2008 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles season

The 2008 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 62nd in the club's history. Coached by Des Hasler and captained by Matt Orford, they competed in the National Rugby League's 2008 Telstra Premiership.

With the departure of hooker Michael Monaghan, many questioned whether the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles could be as competitive as in 2007 and losses in the first 2 rounds seemed to confirm this. Manly Warringah's first win came in round 3 at Brookvale with a 52–6 thrashing of the New Zealand Warriors and followed this up with a 20–2 shutout of South Sydney. In the round 5 grand final rematch against the Storm, Manly were soundly beaten 26–4 and doubt about their premiership credentials resurfaced. In Heritage Round (Rd 6) Manly Warringah had a season defining last gasp win over bitter rivals Parramatta, with Manly overcoming injuries before and during the game including one to winger Michael Bani who had to be stretchered off the ground after being knocked out.

Manly Warringah seemed to use this game as a springboard and entered a dangerous run of form, notching up numerous impressive wins over top teams such as a 30–12 win over the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, a 42–0 annihilation of the Sydney Roosters at Brookvale Oval and a 34–14 win over the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Park in round 17. In round 18 Manly avenged their opening round loss to bitter rivals and eventual preliminary finalists Cronulla with a 34–6 hammering of them at Toyota Stadium. In round 19, Manly once again faced historical rivals Parramatta and in a repeat of round 6, Manly lost halfback Matt Orford and lock Luke Williamson before the game, and after only minutes five-eighth Jamie Lyon and prop Jason King were forced off the field with injury. Despite the setbacks and an early challenge from the Eels, Manly ran away with the game and finished 28–10 winners.

Some hiccups against the Roosters in round 20, the Storm in round 22 and the Rabbitohs in round 23 meant Manly finished the regular season tied first with Melbourne and Cronulla but 2nd on points differential and Manly missed out on claiming their first minor premiership since 1997. In the qualifying final Manly faced 7th placed St. George at Brookvale. This game was club legend Steve Menzies' last game at Brookvale and he opened the scoring with an unusual charge down try in which after kicking ahead to himself and falling over, the ball bounced up and hit him in the head before he finally grounded it. Manly Warringah were easy 38–6 winners and departing Dragons centre Mark Gasnier was seen on the sidelines crying. After getting the week off, Manly faced the history-making New Zealand Warriors whose late season charge got them into 8th place where they became the first 8th placed team to advance past qualifying finals with a dramatic and rare defeat of the Storm at Olympic Park. Despite an early challenge, Manly Warringah crushed the Warriors 32–6 and showcased their trademark wall of defence and attacking flair. With the win, Manly Warringah qualified for their 17th grand final, where in a rematch of the 2007 decider, they would play the Melbourne Storm who had bounced back from the Warriors' loss with wins over the Brisbane Broncos and Cronulla Sharks.

The story was very different for the Sea Eagles this time around as they decimated the Storm 40–0 to win their seventh premiership in front of 80,388 at ANZ Stadium. It was Michael Monaghan's replacement, the previously unknown Matt Ballin who scored the first try of the match. The game was also notable for winger Michael Robertson's hat-trick and retiring legend Steve Menzies' try 10 minutes from full-time, which he scored after coming back onto the field to replace the injured Steve Matai. Manly prop forward Brent Kite was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal after a powerhouse display which included a classy try in the 58th minute. This is the largest winning margin in a grand final in rugby league history.^[1]

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	17	0	7	2	584	282	+302	38
2	Manly-Warringah	24	17	0	7	2	645	355	+290	38
3	Cronulla	24	17	0	7	2	451	384	+67	38
4	Sydney Roosters	24	15	0	9	2	511	446	+65	34
5	Brisbane	24	14	1	9	2	560	452	+108	33
6	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	640	527	+113	30
7	St. George Illawarra	24	13	0	11	2	489	378	+111	30
8	New Zealand	24	13	0	11	2	502	567	-65	30
9	Newcastle	24	12	0	12	2	516	486	+30	28
10	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	528	560	-32	26
11	Parramatta	24	11	0	13	2	501	547	-46	26
12	Penrith	24	10	1	13	2	504	611	-107	25
13	Gold Coast	24	10	0	14	2	476	586	-110	24
14	South Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	453	666	-213	20
15	North Queensland	24	5	0	19	2	474	638	-164	14
16	Bulldogs	24	5	0	19	2	433	782	-349	14

References

↑ AAP (5 October 2008). "Manly cruise to grand final win". Fox Sports. Retrieved 20 February 2014.

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

Est. 1947 in Sydney, New South Wales

The Club	History (Northern Eagles) Records Players Coaches Rivalry with Melbourne Storm

Culture	Battle of Brookvale Manly–Melbourne NRL rivalry Manly Seabirds

Home ground	Brookvale Oval

Important figures	Roy Bull Ken Arthurson Rex Mossop Frank Stanton Fred Jones Bob Fulton Ron Willey Graham Eadie Max Krilich Terry Randall Paul Vautin Des Hasler Geoff Toovey Steve Menzies Stewart brothers Jamie Lyon

League	NSWRL ARL NRL

Titles	Premierships (8) 1972 1973 1976 1978 1987 1996 2008 2011 World Club Challenges (1) 2009

Seasons (67)	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other competitions	Current National Youth Competition S. G. Ball Cup Harold Matthews Cup New South Wales Cup Past Amco Cup Jersey Flegg Cup

Affiliations	Manly-Warringah/North Sydney District Rugby League

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