Manly have convincingly crowned themselves NRL premiers in Rugby League’s centenary season via a 40-nil point-scoring tidal wave over Melbourne.
Manly have convincingly crowned themselves NRL premiers in Rugby League’s centenary season via a 40-nil point-scoring tidal wave over Melbourne.
Revenge wasn’t just limited to re-writing the pain of 2007 with just a win but the biggest winning margin in 55 years of grand finals.
The record breaking result eclipsed Eastern Suburbs' 38-0 win over St George in 1975 as the biggest winning margin in a decider.
To add extra insult to injury Melbourne became the first side since Cronulla in the 1978 replay to be held scoreless in a Grand Final which Manly was also victorious in.
For the Storm the statistics look pretty devastating, having one premiership in the last three years when they won 80 per cent of their games and took out three minor premierships.
To say they can’t bounce back would be flirting with astronomical ignorance but it will certainly be a rocky road minus the services of Matt Geyer and Israel Folau who have been strong foundations for the Storm’s path to success in recent seasons.
The challenge now for Manly is whether they can get stronger and raise the bar for the rest of the competition. Sunday’s performance proved they have the talent to do just that.
Steve “Beaver” Menzies' record-equalling 349th and final first grade appearance was capped with a try, one of eight touch-downs for the victorious boys from the northern beaches.
Prop Brent Kite , who made 167 metres and 26 tackles , was named as the Clive Churchill Medallist as man of the match.
MANLY 40 (M Robertson 3 M Ballin S Bell B Kite S Menzies D Williams tries J Lyon 2 S Matai 2 goals) bt MELBOURNE 0 at ANZ Stadium. Referee: T Archer. Crowd: 80,388.
