Rugby league’s ultimate moral dilemma: Manly versus Easts, semi-final, Saturday night. The neutral fan is stuck like Paul on the road to Homebush or Damascus. Who do you hate more? Who do you cheer to lose? In a patently insincere attempt at balance, here are both cases.
‘Guess what? Manly hates you too’ This banner is carried to every Manly match by Stephen Lucas, who was grossly offended by a 2021 NRL fans’ poll that found Melbourne, Brisbane, Easts and Penrith were more hated than his beloved Sea Eagles. “Manly will always be hated for being more professional and much more successful than other fans’ clubs,” Lucas said, grasping for relevance. Lucas was appalled that good-humoured opposition fans now asked to be photographed with him and his banner.
He did find a ray of hope, however, saying, “If I could go ahead in time to 2121 I would be willing to bet Melbourne would be just another team and fans would still hate Manly.” There’s every chance Manly won’t exist in 2121, but true NRL fans will still hate them. History It’s the older generations that keep tribal hatred for Manly alive.
In the 1970s, Manly showed their professionalism and success by poaching players from the four points of the compass – Souths, Norths, Easts and Wests. Since the advent of the salary cap, Manly have been reduced to poaching players from the Tigers. Easts’ history of pillage is more resilient, toughing it out deep into the salary cap era.
Daly Cherry-Evans and Luke .