Manly–Melbourne NRL rivalry

The Manly–Melbourne NRL rivalry is between two National Rugby League clubs, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm, who are engaged in a modern-day rivalry. They have met 39 times since 1998, with Melbourne leading the head-to-head 16–13; there has also been a drawn match between the two sides.^[1] Additionally, they have finished three regular seasons as the top two placed sides on the premiership ladder (2007, 2008 and 2011), although in the cases of 2007 and 2008, Melbourne had those minor premierships stripped from them due to the discovery of salary cap breaches in April 2010.^[2]

History[]

1998–2005[]

The Melbourne Storm and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles first met in Round 18 of the 1998 NRL season, with the Storm winning 22–12 at Olympic Park Stadium.^[3] Manly's first victory over the Storm came in Round 6 of the 2003 season, with a 20–14 victory at Brookvale Oval.^[4]

The rivalry began in 2005, when Manly and Melbourne met in an early-season top-of-the-table clash at Brookvale Oval. Cheered on by a parochial home crowd, the Manly-Warringah defeated Melbourne 25–18, on their way to reaching their first finals series since 1998, and their first in an ongoing ten-year streak.^[5] This match also marked the NRL debut of Steve Matai for the Manly-Warringah club.

2006–2009[]

The Storm warming up before a match against the Sea Eagles in 2008

Throughout 2007, Melbourne and Manly were in a two-way tussle for top spot on the ladder for much of the season. They met only once during the regular season, in Round 11, with Manly winning a close and physical match 13–12; the match also featured two serious injuries, whereby Billy Slater copped an accidental knee from team-mate Sam Tagataese and George Rose suffered a horrific leg injury.^[6][7][8]

The two teams would later feature in the 2007 NRL Grand Final, in the first of two consecutive Grand Finals played between the two clubs. Melbourne defeated Manly-Warringah 34–8 to win their second premiership, in a match which was notable for Melbourne enforcer Michael Crocker taking out Manly fullback Brett Stewart early in the second half with a hard, but legal tackle;^[9] however, on 22 April 2010, Melbourne would be stripped of this premiership due to the discovery of salary cap breaches throughout the courses of the 2006–10 seasons.^[2]

There were three meetings between the two clubs in 2008. Melbourne won both of their regular season meetings, including in the Grand Final replay in Round 5, and also at Brookvale Oval later in the season, though it would be Manly-Warringah who would win the match that mattered the most, the 2008 NRL Grand Final; in a rematch of the previous year's premiership decider, Manly-Warringah would record a crushing 40–0 victory to win their seventh premiership title and in the process denying the Melbourne club back-to-back premierships. Two of Manly's standout performers on the day were Winger Michael Robertson who equaled the Grand Final record by scoring three tries, and Clive Churchill Medal winner, Prop-forward Brent Kite.^[10] This loss was the third worst defeat in Melbourne's short history, and it was the first time since 1978 in which the losing team did not score a point (coincidentally, Manly also won the 1978 GF replay defeating Cronulla-Sutherland 16-0 after the original GF had been drawn 11-all).^[11] Manly's 40-0 win over Melbourne also broke the record winning margin for a Grand Final, beating the 38-0 win by Eastern Suburbs over St George in 1975.

The rivalry remained strong after 2008, despite there being no subsequent Grand Final meetings between the two clubs. The two teams traded victories at each other's home grounds in 2009, with Melbourne winning at Brookvale Oval in Round 8^[12] and Manly winning in Melbourne for the first time in Round 24,^[13] before Melbourne thrashed Manly 40–12 in the qualifying final at Etihad Stadium^[14] en route to winning another premiership which would also be stripped from them due to salary cap breaches.^[2]

2010–present[]

Manly won both of their premiership meetings in 2010, first at Etihad Stadium in Round 6 by 18–16^[15] (in the last match before the Storm's breaches of the salary cap between 2006 and 2010 were uncovered) and then at Brookvale Oval in Round 22 by 26–6.^[16] In both matches, Manly led 18–6 at half-time. If it weren't for Melbourne's salary cap breaches, Manly would have missed the finals.

Melbourne then claimed its first victory over Manly since 2009 in Round 1, 2011 in a match in which they could compete for premiership points for the first time since that year,^[17] before Manly won a close, but brutal and violent match later in the season, known as the "Battle of Brookvale", where a minor scuffle erupted between Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair in the field and being sent off after joining in a scuffle between Darcy Lussick and Ryan Hinchcliffe.^[18] This was the first match attended by David Gallop of either side since suspending Brett Stewart from the first four weeks of the 2009 season for a sexual assault charge for which he would later be exonerated, and since stripping the Storm of two premiership titles and three minor premiership titles for salary cap breaches; extra security was hired for his presence at the game.^[19] Of the match itself, Gallop said:

The sight of so many players from both teams fighting, of people running in and leaving the bench area, was an horrendous look for the game.

— David Gallop^[20]

In the immediate fallout from the match, both teams were fined $50,000 each and a total of ten players were charged by the NRL judiciary system.^[20] At the conclusion of the season, Melbourne and Manly finished as the top two teams on the premiership ladder for the third time in five years. They had seemed destined to face each other in the Grand Final, but whilst the Manly-Warringah did ultimately make the decider (and went on to win), Melbourne were stopped in their tracks in the preliminary final stage by the New Zealand Warriors, thus denying what could have been a third Melbourne v Manly Grand Final in five years.^[21]

The two teams met only twice in 2012, with Melbourne winning both times; first a very close match at Brookvale Oval in Round 15 by 26–22,^[22] followed by a crushing 40–12 victory in the preliminary final at AAMI Park which ended Manly's premiership defence and ultimately set Melbourne up to win their second valid premiership and first since the salary cap breaches. As of the 2020 NRL season, this is the last time the two teams have played against each other in a finals game.^[23]

Their first meeting in 2013, in Round 10, produced the first draw between the two clubs, with the final score being 10–all.^[24] They met again later in the season, in Round 25, with Manly winning 28–8.^[25]

The two meetings between the sides in 2014 were both won by Melbourne: the first was a golden point, 23–22 victory in the opening round, in which Storm captain Cameron Smith kicked his first career field goal in extra time, coming after Melbourne trailed 20–4 at half-time;^[26] the second once again saw the Storm come from behind to win 22–19 over an injury-hit Manly side with debutant Kurt Mann scoring the match winning try with four minutes left.^[27]

Manly returned serve in 2015, winning both meetings including their first ever win at AAMI Park. Despite their success against Melbourne, Manly-Warringah faced a decline in the league failing to make the top eight for the first time since 2004.^[28]

In 2016, the sides met in round 24 where Melbourne were convincing victors 38–18 thus allowing the Storm to clinch the minor premiership yet again the following weekend whilst Manly for the second consecutive season fell short of the eight.^[29]

Melbourne won both meetings in 2017, first holding off a 2nd half fight back by Manly at Brookvale to win 30–26 and humiliating Manly 40–6 in the 2nd game at AAMI Park which was also Cameron Smith's 350th NRL game.^[30]

The first meeting held between Manly and Melbourne for season 2018 in round eleven at AAMI Park was marred by controversy. While Manly won the match by 24–4 against a Melbourne side missing suspended captain Cameron Smith, the match was perhaps best remembered for a series of on-field incidents including four sin-binnings (Jake Trbojevic, Dylan Walker, Apisai Koroisau and Josh Addo-Carr) and the first send-off since 2015 courtesy of Curtis Scott throwing punches at Walker during a brawl reminiscent of the one between the two sides almost seven years prior. More drama occurred when Koroisau returned to the field one minute and 41 seconds earlier than he should've, presumably due to a timekeeping error. Melbourne have lodged an official protest as a result.^[31]

In 2019, Manly-Warringah handed Melbourne just their third loss of the season, winning 11–10 in golden point extra time with captain Daly Cherry-Evans kicking the winning field goal in the final minute of extra time.^[32]

Statistics[]

Head to Head[]

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	PF	PA	PD
Melbourne Storm	32	18	1	13	690	557	+133
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	32	13	1	18	557	690	-133

This table only includes competitive matches, excluding all pre-season trials

Results[]

This table only shows competitive matches, and not pre-season or exhibition matches. Scores list home team first

Date	Season	Round	Home Team	Away Team	Venue	Score	Attendance	Report
Friday, 10 July	1998	18	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Olympic Park Stadium	22-12	13,120	[1]
Saturday, 15 May	1999	11	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Olympic Park Stadium	28-6	11,743	[2]
Sunday, 27 June	1999	17	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	18-19	7,084	[3]
Sunday, 20 April	2003	6	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	20-14	7,588	[4]
Saturday, 6 September	2003	26	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Olympic Park Stadium	40-10	10,020	[5]
Sunday, 5 September	2004	26	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	30-28	9,790	[6]
Sunday, 27 March	2005	3	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	25-18	15,470	[7]
Saturday, 20 May	2006	11	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	34-12	9,338	[8]
Saturday, 6 September	2006	26	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Olympic Park Stadium	30-20	13,991	[9]
Saturday, 26 May	2007	11	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	13-12	18,640	[10]
Sunday, 30 September	2007	GF	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Telstra Stadium	34-8	81,392	[11]
Friday, 11 April	2008	5	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Olympic Park Stadium	26-4	13,632	[12]
Friday, 8 August	2008	22	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	10-16	18,442	[13]
Sunday, 5 October	2008	GF	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	ANZ Stadium	40-0	80,388	[14]
Friday, 1 May	2009	8	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	8-22	10,752	[15]
Sunday, 23 August	2009	24	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Olympic Park Stadium	16-20	12,601	[16]
Friday, 11 September	2009	QF	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Etihad Stadium	40-12	21,155	[17]
Monday, 19 April	2010	6	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Etihad Stadium	16-18	14,171	[18]
Saturday, 7 August	2010	22	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	26-6	12,550	[19]
Saturday, 12 March	2011	1	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	18-6	14,651	[20]
Friday, 26 August	2011	25	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	18-4	20,414	[21]
Monday, 18 June	2012	15	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	22-26	12,106	[22]
Friday, 21 September	2012	PF	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	40-12	25,543	[23]
Monday, 20 May	2013	10	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	10-10	12,961	[24]
Saturday, 31 August	2013	25	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	28-8	17,179	[25]
Saturday, 8 March	2014	1	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	22-23	14,200	[26]
Saturday, 10 May	2014	10	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	22-19	13,273	[27]
Saturday, 14 March	2015	2	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	24-22	10,531	[28]
Saturday, 25 April	2015	8	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	10-12	13,948	[29]
Saturday, 20 August	2016	24	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	18-38	8,241	[30]
Saturday, 15 April	2017	7	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	26-30	10,144	[31]
Sunday, 30 July	2017	21	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	40-6	15,036	[32]
Saturday, 19 May	2018	11	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	4-24	13,172	[33]
Saturday, 27 July	2019	19	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park	11-10	14,836
Saturday, 31 August	2019	24	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	6-36	14,640
Sunday, 15 March	2020	1	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Brookvale Oval	4-18	10,315
Sunday, 30 August	2020	16	Melbourne Storm	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Sunshine Coast Stadium	30-6	2,910

Attendances[]

Note: Grand Finals are not taken into consideration here.

• Highest attendance:
  • Melbourne Storm at home: 25,543 – Melbourne Storm 40 – 12 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Preliminary Final, 2012
  • Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at home: 20,414 – Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 18 – 4 Melbourne Storm, Round 25, 2011
• Lowest attendance:
  • Melbourne Storm at home: 10,020 – Melbourne Storm 40 – 10 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Round 26, 2003
  • Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at home: 7,084 – Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 18 – 19 Melbourne Storm, Round 17, 1999
• Neutral attendance: 81,392 – Melbourne Storm 34 – 8 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, 2007 NRL Grand Final

Players who represented both clubs[]

See also[]

• Rivalries in the National Rugby League

References[]

External links[]

• Storm v Manly History Melbourne Storm Official Website