Both Parramatta and Manly-Warringah entered the competition in 1947 on the wave of optimism that followed WWII, and have been traditional rivals ever since. Back then, both teams were situated on the extremities of Sydney, and fought for their survival.
Despite beginning their journeys together, the two clubs have met with very different levels of success. Manly have played in 19 grand finals, winning eight premierships, and have never once picked up the wooden spoon in their 75 years in the competition.
They’ve managed to keep their fans interested by winning a premiership in each decade from the 1970s onward, as well as being runners up in each of those decades.
By contrast, Parramatta have played in just nine grand finals in 75 years, winning four of them, and all in the 1980s. They’ve also picked up 14 wooden spoons along the way, far more than their fair share.
The last time they won a premiership was 1986, when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister of Australia, Allan Border was ruling the Australian cricket team with an iron fist, and a long blonde haired Peter Sterling was the best halfback ever to have donned the blue and gold jersey.
Sterlo has less hair these days (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Parramatta got the job done that day on the back of a great roster including Sterling, Brett Kenny, Ray Price, Mick Cronin and Eric Grothe, defeating an emerging Bulldogs team 4-2 in a real slug-fest. Fast forward 35 years, and the blue and gold army are still waiting patiently for another premiership, Peter Sterling doesn’t have a hair on his head, but still remains as the Eels’ greatest-ever No.7.
The closest the Eels have got to winning another premiership since the mid-’80s was in 2001 and 2009 when they finished runners-up each time. In 2001, the Brian Smith-coached Eels finished the regular season as minor premiers, five points clear of Canterbury-Bankstown, and went into the grand final against Newcastle as clear favourites.
Knights captain Andrew Johns had other ideas, though, and the Eels were blown off the park in the first half, trailing 24-0 at the break and eventually going down 30-24.
Eight years later, they scraped into eighth place on the ladder after sitting in 14th place at the halfway mark, and then won their three finals games to face Melbourne in the grand final. They were certainly on a roll, and while they played well that day they weren’t good enough in the end, losing 23-16 to a star-studded Storm team.
To add insult to injury, and further frustrate Parramatta fans, the Eels weren’t awarded the 2009 premiership title by default when it was subsequently stripped from the Storm for their salary cap breaches. I think that they deserved the title.
Since John Monie coached the Eels to their 1986 victory, Parramatta have had nine coaches, and seen some 380 players come and go. Current coach Brad Arthur is entering his 11th year as coach at the club in 2022, serving his apprenticeship in an assistant role from 2011 to 2012, spending a year with Manly in 2013, and then getting the Eels first grade coaching gig in 2014.
So, 2022 will be Arthur’s ninth year at the helm at Parramatta, and his current contract will see him there for another two years after that. But just how well have Parramatta performed under his watch?
One way to answer that question is ‘lukewarm and cold’. The cold years were from 2014 to 2016 and then again in 2018 when the Eels finished 10th, 12th, 14th and dead last, respectively.
The odd blip in the first five years of Arthur’s tenure was, of course, 2017, when the club went from 14th in 2016, to 4th in 2017 and then picked up another wooden spoon the very next year. Admittedly, the club has had its share of ‘management’ issues in these years, and some of them have no doubt impacted on their on-field performances.
Eels head coach Brad Arthur (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
It may seem harsh to describe the Eels performances in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021 as just ‘lukewarm’, though, as there are plenty of sides out there who would have welcomed the same top-eight finish as Parramatta enjoyed in each of those years. But the Eels failed to capitalise, not even once, and were eliminated in the semi-finals on each occasion.
Last season was the closest they’ve come to advancing to the preliminary final when they were just pipped 8-6 by eventual premiers Penrith. It’s almost as if making the top eight is the ultimate goal, rather than winning the premiership.
Brad Arthur has three seasons to either deliver a premiership for the club or risk going the way of Parramatta coaches before him, with 2013 coach Ricky Stuart now being the only former Eels coach still in charge of a first grade club.
His task won’t be made any easier, though, if they lose any more players from their current roster, with key players Reed Mahoney, Marata Niukore and Isaiah Papali’i already heading elsewhere in 2023, and others no doubt in discussions with their managers right now. Parramatta will either have to immediately upgrade star forwards Ryan Matterson and Junior Paulo or risk them joining the exodus in 2023.
2022 may be the best chance in the foreseeable future for the Eels to end the crippling premiership drought or otherwise seriously risk making it 40 years-plus between premierships.
It’s now been 36 long years since Parramatta’s battered captain Ray Price proudly held the premiership trophy aloft, a sight most of today’s blue and gold army have only seen on replay.
How many more years does an Eels fan have to wait to see it happen again?
chud
Roar Rookie
I am a fan... I agree with this... A slightly weaker team than the one that failed this year... Players leaving in '23... Instability.... Going better than this season seems unlikely... Top 8 finish at best...
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
the game in the 80's was less structured than it is now and defences not as organised, this allowed that star studded Parra backline to run amok,
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
yep, the last time Parra won they had Ray in the forward pack, maybe they need to get him to clean up the old high top boots
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
who knows mate - Penriff & the Storm are going to lose some top players, but then Parra have lost a few as well - bummer that
chud
Roar Rookie
Hope Matterson walks... thought Nuikore played best in the centres... preferable to W. Blake. Losing Mahoney hurts... ( and to the dogs of all clubs!)... if we lose Paulo also... it will be a serious rebuild and more years in the wilderness...
Albo
Roar Rookie
But who are the Tigers on field leaders ? Yet to appear to date ! And that spine is awfully ordinary.
Albo
Roar Rookie
The big difference with the 80's Eels and todays Eels is the quality of leadership the 80's Eels had right across the park. They had Sterling, Kenny & Cronin running the backs whilst Price & Edge led the pack up front. Today they have an inconsistent Moses and an over excitable Gutherson playing off the tops of their heads in the backs, whilst their pack has no real leaders and has an all go hard mode, and an all go backwards mode, depending on the opposition. They are desperate for some on field leaders.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I think it was at least partly that they were all tagged as “the next…someone” Erickson was the next Cronin, Jackson the next Kenny, Bell the next Sterling and maybe unrealistic expectations that they’d slot straight into the team to replace all time players… that was certainly the case with a few fans at the time
Latte Kid
Guest
Thanks mate !!
Latte Kid
Guest
I think players like Brian Jackson, Michael Erickson and David Woods were talented but for whatever reason just couldn't make it to the next level. Same with Jason Bell he had talent but needed to be reigned in, made too many errors.
terrykidd
Roar Pro
How long between drinks ??? Well not being an Eels fan, ever, they could be sitting at the pub with no beer for all I care. But seriously, how will the fact that players have signed elsewhere affect team cohesiveness in 2022? I reckon their premiership window closed at the end of 2021 and the slide will begin.
JennyfromPenny
Guest
Where should it end though? Storm narrowly beat Penrith 16-14 at Olympic Park during the 2009 season and we missed the finals by one point. Why should only the Grand Final only count when they impacted so many other teams chances of getting there.
The Barry
Roar Guru
There was also a lot of hype about the young players coming through. I remember names like Brian Jackson, Danny Crnkovich, Michael Erickson, Mick Delroy, Tony Cossatto being thrown around as the next generation of Parra stars and they just didn’t remotely come on…
Chris Love
Roar Guru
I think it’s a bit harsh on Brad Arther. It was always going to take time rebuilding the club after the salary cap scandal. Based on 2021 I thought they were a strike centre and a decent bench forward away from a tittle. Now instead of finding the missing pieces, they lose potentially the most important part of their spine-Reed Mahoney. The Eels had an awesome start to the season this year and very little plaudits went to Reed. But he was half the try assists in that first half of the year. It took a heap of pressure of Moses and D Brown. The eels really started to wobble when he got injured. The part that confuses me is. If Parra were willing to let Ryan Matterson leave. Surely there was cash there to retain Reed and Isaiah Papali. Their two best performing players. While I was a big fan of Niukore, especially when he filled in for Waqa Blake at centre. Parra were never going to match the $625k that the warriors offered. Reed and Isaiah were the big targets they needed to retain. Have failed there and I have to say I’m sitting with Ray Price here. I think Reed will look cheap at $650k in 2023. If they had come close to the 600k the Tigers offered I think he Eels could have retained him also. Jnr Paulo is apparently on 700k. I just hope he doesn’t think he’s worth more than that.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Brett Kenny doesn’t get the accolades from history he deserves. Scoring a double, while playing 5/8 in three straight GF’s? Who does that? People forget he kept Wally out of the Kangaroos side and moved to play centre to accomodate him.
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
they were increadibly NRL savvy, that is why they hid the $$ & doctored the books so well. It was only because someone squeeled resulted in them being caught. Imagine if they didn't - what would the squad look like now? They'd be like the top EPL team with all of the best players instead of allowing an even playing field by distributing the talent evenly across teams
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
You do realise that the point of the cap is to try and distribute talent, does not matter if you bought them or not, but hey it's OK to be over the cap because other clubs do it as well :thumbdown:
Stormy Weather
Guest
When that cheating is no more than putting a little more money in your players bank accounts then I would say that is fair. Remember that the Storm never bought any of those players. There biggest crime was not being NRL savvy. The Broncos and several other clubs were doing exactly the same as the Storm back then its just that clubs knew how to account for it legally. Melbourne players as a group, probably earn far more now than back then its just that Melbourne have learned how to play the game.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Parramatta and Norths share a bond of being Manlys' bunnies. Maybe a merger of the Parramatta-North Sydney Bears would work out and isolate Manly like Cronulla. In 1947 Norths beat Manly twice but could only manage one other win to take the wooden spoon. In 1948 Manly scored 9 points and Norths scored 8 and took the wooden spoon.
Tony
Roar Guru
100% right mate. Kenny, was to the 80s, what Gasnier was to the 60s. Impossible to defend against.