1976 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season

1976 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season
1976 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season
NSWRFL champions
NSWRFL Rank	1st
1976 record	Wins: 18; Draws: 0; Losses: 7
Points scored	For: 544; Against: 300
Team information
Secretary	Ken Arthurson
Coach	Frank Stanton
Captain	Bob Fulton;
Stadium	Brookvale Oval
Top scorers
Tries	Bob Fulton (21)
Goals	Graham Eadie (103)
Points	Graham Eadie (233)

The 1976 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 30th in the club's history since their entry into the then New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership in 1947.

The 1976 Sea Eagles were coached by 1963–64 Kangaroo tourist Frank Stanton. Captaining the side was brilliant centre Bob Fulton. The club competed in the New South Wales Rugby Football League's 1976 Premiership season and played its home games at the 27,000 capacity Brookvale Oval.^[1]

Ladder[]

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly-Warringah	22	16	0	6	499	252	+247	32
2	Parramatta	22	14	2	6	347	238	+109	30
3	St. George	22	14	0	8	328	298	+30	28
4	Eastern Suburbs	22	13	1	8	399	250	+149	27
5	Canterbury-Bankstown	22	12	3	7	361	337	+24	27
6	Balmain	22	12	1	9	318	287	+31	25
7	Western Suburbs	22	11	2	9	379	313	+66	24
8	Cronulla-Sutherland	22	9	1	12	378	393	-15	19
9	Penrith	22	8	1	13	352	333	+19	17
10	South Sydney	22	8	0	14	297	421	-124	16
11	North Sydney	22	6	1	15	272	526	-254	13
12	Newtown Jets	22	3	0	19	264	546	-282	6

Regular season[]

Sunday 21 March	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	15 – 27	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Endeavour Field, Sydney
	Tries: , Greg Mullane, Goals: Barry Andrews (3/6)	^[2]	Tries: Graham Eadie, Rod Jackson, Tom Mooney, Terry Randall, Gary Thoroughgood Goals: Graham Eadie (6/8)	Attendance: 7,629 Referee: Gary Cook

Sunday 28 March	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	17 – 13	Western Suburbs Magpies	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Graham Eadie, Rod Jackson, Tom Mooney Goals: Graham Eadie (4/8)	^[3]	Tries: Ron Giteau, Graeme O'Grady, Peter Young Goals: Graeme O'Grady (2/5)	Attendance: 12,059 Referee: Greg Hartley

Sunday 4 April	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	21 – 31	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Belmore Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Mick Ryan (2), Don Moseley, , George Peponis Goals: Graeme Hughes (3/6)	^[4]	Tries: Ray Branighan, Graham Eadie, Bob Fulton, Rod Jackson, Max Krilich, Ian Martin, Goals: Graham Eadie (5/9)	Attendance: 16,046 Referee: Richie Humphreys

Sunday 11 April	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	30 – 4	St. George Dragons	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Bob Fulton (2), Rod Jackson (2), , Terry Randall Goals: Graham Eadie (6/9)	^[5]	Tries: Goals: Henry Tatana (2/5)	Attendance: 18,077 Referee: Jack Danzey

Sunday 18 April	Parramatta Eels	8 – 5	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Cumberland Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Ray Price (2) Goals: John Peard (1/4)	^[6]	Tries: Tom Mooney Goals: Graham Eadie (1/4)	Attendance: 14,543 Referee: Greg Hartley

Sunday 25 April	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	38 – 13	North Sydney Bears	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Bob Fulton (2), Phil Lowe (2), Max Krilich, Tom Mooney Goals: Graham Eadie (10/10)	^[7]	Tries: Bruce Walker, Goals: John Gray (1/3) (1/1)	Attendance: 13,057 Referee: Col Turnell

Saturday 1 May	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	19 – 18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
	Tries: Ron Coote, Russell Fairfax, Mark Harris Goals: John Brass (3/4) Royce Ayliffe (2/4)	^[8]	Tries: Graham Eadie, Russel Gartner, Rod Jackson, Goals: Graham Eadie (3/6)	Attendance: 22,861 Referee: Kevin Roberts

Saturday 8 May	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	27 – 14	Penrith Panthers	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Tom Mooney (4), Phil Lowe (2), Bob Fulton Goals: Graham Eadie (3/9)	^[9]	Tries: (2) Goals: Ken Wilson (4/5)	Attendance: 9,314 Referee: Don Macdonald

Sunday 16 May	Newtown Bluebags	6 – 57	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Henson Park, Sydney
	Tries: Goals: John Bradstock (3/5)	^[10]	Tries: Bob Fulton (3), Tom Mooney (3), Ian Martin (2), Ray Branighan, Graham Eadie, John Harvey, Max Krilich, Alan Thompson Goals: Graham Eadie (9/13)	Attendance: 2,825 Referee: Richie Humphreys

Sunday 23 May	South Sydney Rabbitohs	16 – 18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Redfern Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Bernard Lowther, Goals: Greg Purcell (5/8)	^[11]	Tries: Bob Fulton (2) Goals: Graham Eadie (6/9)	Attendance: 11,198 Referee: Col Turnell

Sunday 30 May	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	14 – 0	Balmain Tigers	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Bob Fulton, Tom Mooney Goals: Ray Branighan (6/8)	^[12]	Tries: Goals:	Attendance: 25,876 Referee: Greg Hartley

Sunday 6 June	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	17 – 12	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Ray Branighan, Bob Fulton, Tom Mooney Goals: Graham Eadie (4/4)	^[13]	Tries: Ron Coote, Russell Fairfax Goals: John Brass (3/5)	Attendance: 23,005 Referee: Gary Cook

Sunday 13 June	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	20 – 9	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Mick Waller (2), Phil Lowe, Terry Randall Goals: Graham Eadie (4/8)	^[14]	Tries: Martin Raftery Goals: Steve Rogers (3/4)	Attendance: 16,026 Referee: Don Macdonald

Sunday 20 June	Western Suburbs Magpies	15 – 37	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Lidcombe Oval, Sydney
	Tries: John Donnelly, , Goals: Ron Giteau (3)	^[15]	Tries: Johnny Gibbs (2), Terry Randall (2), Graham Eadie, Bob Fulton, , Tom Mooney, Steve Norton Goals: Graham Eadie (5)	Attendance: Greg Hartley Referee: 12,713

Sunday 27 June	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	9 – 13	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Alan Thompson Goals: Graham Eadie (3)	^[16]	Tries: Steve Hage Goals: Don Moseley (5)	Attendance: 15,446 Referee: Kevin Roberts

Saturday 3 July	St. George Dragons	13 – 5	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Kogarah Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Ted Goodwin Goals: Henry Tatana (5)	^[17]	Tries: Tom Mooney Goals: Graham Eadie (1)	Attendance: 10,388 Referee: Gary Cook

Sunday 11 July	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	10 – 14	Parramatta Eels	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Graham Eadie, Russel Gartner Goals: Graham Eadie (2)	^[18]	Tries: Neville Glover, Phil Mann Goals: John Peard (4)	Attendance: 2,311 Referee: Don Macdonald

Saturday 17 July	North Sydney Bears	28 – 5	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	North Sydney Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Goals: Barry Wood (1)	^[19]	Tries: Bob Fulton (2), Johnny Gibbs, Rod Jackson, Tom Mooney, Alan Thompson Goals: Graham Eadie (5)	Attendance: 6,475 Referee: Richie Humphreys

Saturday 31 July	Penrith Panthers	16 – 15	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Penrith Park, Sydney
	Tries: Glenn West (2), Terry Geary, Goals: Ken Wilson (2)	^[20]	Tries: Russel Gartner, Johnny Gibbs, Rod Jackson Goals: (3)	Attendance: 6,260 Referee: Greg Hartley

Sunday 8 August	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	20 – 12	Newtown Bluebags	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Bob Fulton, Russel Gartner, Phil Lowe, Alan Thompson Goals: Bob Fulton (4)	^[21]	Tries: Chris Dawson, Goals: (3)	Attendance: 8,643 Referee: Keith Page

Saturday 15 August	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	26 – 3	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Graham Eadie, Bob Fulton, Ian Martin, Tom Mooney Goals: Graham Eadie (7)	^[22]	Tries: John Berne Goals:	Attendance: 10,532 Referee: Barry Bradstock

Sunday 22 August	Balmain Tigers	11 – 30	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Leichhardt Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Greg Cox Goals: Greg Cox (4)	^[23]	Tries: Gary Stephens (2), Graham Eadie, Ian Martin, Tom Mooney, Alan Thompson Goals: Graham Eadie (6)	Attendance: 17,360 Referee: Don Macdonald

Finals[]

Major Semi-Final[]

Saturday 4 September	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	17 – 23	Parramatta Eels	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
	Tries: Bob Fulton (2), Alan Thompson Goals: Graham Eadie (4/6)	^[24]	Tries: Graeme Atkins, Neville Glover, John Peard Goals: John Peard (5/7) Mark Levy (2/2)	Attendance: 30,999 Referee: Greg Hartley

Preliminary Final[]

Saturday 11 September	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	15 – 12	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
	Tries: Bob Fulton, Russel Gartner Goals: Graham Eadie (4/6) Field Goals: Bob Fulton (1)	^[25]	Tries: Keith Harris, Bob McCarthy Goals: Don Moseley (3/4)	Attendance: 31,381 Referee: Gary Cook

Grand Final[]

Saturday 18 September

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	13 – 10	Parramatta Eels
Tries: Phil Lowe Goals: Graham Eadie (5/6)	^[26]	Tries: Geoff Gerard Jim Porter Goals: John Peard (2/3)

Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Attendance: 57,343
Referee: Gary Cook
Player of the Match: Graham Eadie

Manly-Warringah

Parramatta


FB	1	Graham Eadie
LW	2	Tom Mooney
CE	3	Russel Gartner
CE	4	Bob Fulton (c)
RW	5	Rod Jackson
FE	6	Alan Thompson
HB	7	Gary Stephens
LK	8	Ian Martin
SR	9	Phil Lowe
SR	10	Steve Norton
PR	11	Terry Randall
HK	12	Max Krilich
PR	13	John Harvey
Substitutions:
IC	14	Gary Thoroughgood
IC	17	Mark Willoughby
Coach:
Frank Stanton


FB	1	Mark Levy
LW	2	Jim Porter
CE	3	Ed Sulkowicz
CE	4	John Moran
RW	5	Neville Glover
FE	6	John Peard
HB	7	John Kolc
LK	8	Ray Price
SR	9	Geoff Gerard
SR	10	Ray Higgs (c)
PR	11	Denis Fitzgerald
HK	12	Ron Hilditch
PR	13	Graham Olling
Substitutions:
IC	14	John Baker
IC	15	Graeme Atkins
Coach:
Terry Fearnley

In 1976, after 30 years of competition, Parramatta reached their first grand final since their admission into the NSWRFL premiership in 1947. Their opponents were Manly-Warringah who had also joined the premiership in 1947, but were playing in their 8th Grand Final, having previously won in 1972 and 1973 with captain Bob Fulton, fullback Graham Eadie, prop forward Terry Randall and lock Ian Martin having played in those two premiership teams.

Eels winger Jim Porter scored first after his opposite Tom Mooney spilled a John Peard bomb in his own in goal to give Parramatta to a 5-0 lead. A penalty goal to Graham Eadie closed the score to 5-2 before Alan Thompson sidestepped through the Parramatta defence to send Phil Lowe in for Manly's first and only try in the Paddington Hill corner. Scores were locked 7-7 at half time.

Geoff Gerard scored a try in the Members corner, though Mark Levy missed the difficult conversion giving the Eels a 10-7 lead early in the second half. Two penalty goals for Eadie then gave Manly back the lead 11-10.

Parramatta missed a critical opportunity to win the game and their first ever premiership with ten minutes of the match remaining: 15 metres out from a wide-open try line,^[27] Eels winger Neville Glover dropped the pass from John Moran which would have given the Eels the match-winning try in the Paddington Hill corner.^[28]^[29]^[30]

Another penalty gave Manly a 13-10 lead. In the frantic dying minutes Parramatta threw everything they had at the Manly defence including the infamous "flying wedge" of dubious legality which had Ron Hilditch at the apex of a phalanx of players driving him towards the line. The wedge was stopped by the Manly defence less than a foot short of the try line. Hilditch would later say that his head came down on the try line with the ball trapped underneath him.

The Manly defence held and the Sea Eagles secured their third premiership in five seasons, while the Eels would have to wait five more years for their first.

It was Bob Fulton's 213th and final match for Manly after a brilliant ten-year career with the club and the grand final victory was largely credited to his experience and brilliance.^[31] He was full of emotion as he accepted the J J Giltinan Shield and was able to end his playing career at Manly on the highest note. He would later return to the club as a successful coach in the 1980s but first he would finish his playing years and then commence coaching at the Eastern Suburbs Roosters (Fulton would join Easts in 1977, unable to resist a big money offer from the club that was backed by one of Australia's richest men and a big supporter of the future rugby league Immortal, Kerry Packer).

Manly's win was a triumph for the powerful triumvirate of Fulton, coach Frank Stanton and Secretary Ken Arthurson who would all go on to higher honours in the game. For Stanton, it was his first success in a coaching career which was to bring two premierships and two Ashes-winning Kangaroo tours. Arthurson had brought to the club players of a calibre to enable five Grand Final appearances in the 1970s for four victories. He would go on to become the Chairman of the New South Wales Rugby League and later the Australian Rugby League.

Player statistics[]

Note: Games and (sub) show total games played, e.g. 1 (1) is 2 games played.

Player	Tries	Goals	FG	Points

Ray Branighan	3	4		17

Graham Eadie	9	103		233
Laurie Freier
Bob Fulton (c)	21	4	1	72
Russel Gartner	5			15
Johnny Gibbs	4			12
John Harvey	1			3
	1			3
Rod Jackson	8			24
Max Krilich	3			9
Phil Lowe	7			21
Ian Martin	5			15
Tom Mooney	18			54
Steve Norton	1			3
	2			6
Terry Randall	5			15
Gary Stephens	2			6
Alan Thompson	6			18
Gary Thoroughgood	2			6
	3	3		15
Mark Willoughby

TOTAL	105	114	1	544

Representative Players[]

State[]

New South Wales – Graham Eadie, Terry Randall

City vs Country[]

City Firsts – Graham Eadie, Max Krilich, Terry Randall

References[]

^ NSWRFL 1976 - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.1 - Cronulla-Sutherland vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.2 - Manly vs Western Suburbs
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.3 - Canterbury-Bankstown vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.4 - Manly vs St George
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.5 - Parramatta vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.6 - Manly vs North Sydney
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.7 - Eastern Suburbs vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.8 - Manly vs Penrith
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.9 - Newtown vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.10 - South Sydney vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.11 - Manly vs Balmain
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.12 - Manly vs Eastern Suburbs
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.13 - Manly vs Cronulla-Sutherland
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.14 - Western Suburbs vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.15 - Manly vs Canterbury-Bankstown
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.16 - St George vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.17 - Manly vs Parramatta
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.18 - North Sydney vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.19 - Penrith vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.20 - Manly vs Newtown
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.21 - South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Manly
^ 1976 NSWRFL Rd.22 - Manly vs Balmain
^ 1976 NSWRFL Major Semi-final - Manly vs Parramatta
^ 1976 NSWRFL Preliminary final - Manly vs Canterbury-Bankstown
^ 1976 NSWRFL Grand Final - Manly-Warringah vs Parramatta
^ Top 10 finals blunders, The Daily Telegraph (2010 News Limited)
^ O'Neill, Matthew (2007-09-14). "Eels vs Bulldogs Classic - Triple Mortimer Magic". rleague.com. Rleague.com PTY LTD. Archived from the original on 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
^ Ryan, Stephen (2001-09-28). "Not a Neville Nobody". Manning River Times. Australia: Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
^ Rothfield, Phil (2010-08-23). "Buzz names his top 10 NRL chokers". The Daily Telegraph. Australia: News Limited. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
^ "Form over five years". The Sun-Herald. 19 March 1978. Retrieved 19 June 2011.

External links[]

[1] NSWRFL 1976 - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

[2] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.1 - Cronulla-Sutherland vs Manly

[3] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.2 - Manly vs Western Suburbs

[4] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.3 - Canterbury-Bankstown vs Manly

[5] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.4 - Manly vs St George

[6] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.5 - Parramatta vs Manly

[7] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.6 - Manly vs North Sydney

[8] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.7 - Eastern Suburbs vs Manly

[9] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.8 - Manly vs Penrith

[10] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.9 - Newtown vs Manly

[11] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.10 - South Sydney vs Manly

[12] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.11 - Manly vs Balmain

[13] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.12 - Manly vs Eastern Suburbs

[14] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.13 - Manly vs Cronulla-Sutherland

[15] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.14 - Western Suburbs vs Manly

[16] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.15 - Manly vs Canterbury-Bankstown

[17] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.16 - St George vs Manly

[18] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.17 - Manly vs Parramatta

[19] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.18 - North Sydney vs Manly

[20] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.19 - Penrith vs Manly

[21] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.20 - Manly vs Newtown

[22] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.21 - South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Manly

[23] 1976 NSWRFL Rd.22 - Manly vs Balmain

[24] 1976 NSWRFL Major Semi-final - Manly vs Parramatta

[25] 1976 NSWRFL Preliminary final - Manly vs Canterbury-Bankstown

[26] 1976 NSWRFL Grand Final - Manly-Warringah vs Parramatta

[27] Top 10 finals blunders, The Daily Telegraph (2010 News Limited)

[28] O'Neill, Matthew (2007-09-14). "Eels vs Bulldogs Classic - Triple Mortimer Magic". rleague.com. Rleague.com PTY LTD. Archived from the original on 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2010-04-24.

[29] Ryan, Stephen (2001-09-28). "Not a Neville Nobody". Manning River Times. Australia: Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2010-04-24.

[30] Rothfield, Phil (2010-08-23). "Buzz names his top 10 NRL chokers". The Daily Telegraph. Australia: News Limited. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

[31] "Form over five years". The Sun-Herald. 19 March 1978. Retrieved 19 June 2011.

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v t Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
Est. 1947 in Sydney, New South Wales
The Club	History (Northern Eagles) Records Players Coaches
Culture	Rivalry with Melbourne Storm (Battle of Brookvale)
Home ground	Brookvale Oval
Important figures	Roy Bull Ken Arthurson Rex Mossop Frank Stanton Fred Jones Bob Fulton Ron Willey Mal Reilly Graham Eadie Max Krilich Terry Randall Paul Vautin Des Hasler Geoff Toovey Steve Menzies Stewart brothers Jamie Lyon Daly Cherry-Evans Trbojevic brothers
League	NSWRL ARL NRL
Titles	Premierships (8) 1972 1973 1976 1978 1987 1996 2008 2011 World Club Challenges (1) 2009
Seasons (70)	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1972 1973 1976 1978 1987 1996 2000 2001 2002 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Other competitions	Current S. G. Ball Cup Harold Matthews Cup New South Wales Cup NRL Nines Past National Youth Competition Amco Cup Jersey Flegg Cup World Sevens
Affiliations	Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles Manly-Warringah/North Sydney District Rugby League