S26E07 Preview – Pride of the Northern Beaches

Friday night footy at Fortress Shithole awaits

Apr 13, 2023

As promised in the review of the Roosters game, I didn’t want to watch a Manly versus Storm game this week, so instead let’s take a trip down memory lane to another relic of the past…

S02E25 – Melbourne Storm @ North Sydney Bears

This replay comes courtesy of Fox League’s weird and wacky summer programming, from the series titled “The Bear’s Greatest Wins” – so skip ahead if you’re not in the mood for recalling a random Storm loss from 1999.

This might have been featured because it was Norths last ever game at North Sydney Oval, in their penultimate NRL fixture before their ~~death~~ merger. The Bears entered the match on an eight game losing streak, including losing five straight home games from rounds 17-21. Melbourne on the other hand were on a five game winning streak which had them tied for second on the ladder, and with a bye in the final round, a slim chance at the minor premiership. Melbourne also had the added motivation of captain Glenn Lazarus making his 250th first grade appearance.

From memory this game despite being the pay tv Sunday afternoon game,1 was shown in Melbourne from 3pm on GTV9, with management at the station temporarily convinced to promote rugby league in Victoria.

I’ve never been to a rugby league game at North Sydney Oval, but I can imagine that like all oval venues, it’s a less than ideal place to watch rugby league. Coupled with a cricket pitch in the middle and old school stands,2 it’s little wonder that Norths had tried to ditch the place to head to Gosford.3

Norths should have opened the scoring, but Jason Taylor would hit the post from an early penalty goal attempt. Melbourne then scored the first try, no sorry, were inexplicably denied the first try when the video referee adjudged Robbie Ross offside on this evidence:

Am I mad about a referee howler from 25 years ago? Yes. Is it because #PaulSimpkinsIsADickhead was involved? Yes. Should I move on? Yeah, probably.4

Matt Geyer would eventually score the game’s first try off the back of a line break from Brett Kimmorley. This was peak Kimmorley where he would run at edge defenders and just power through with a feint and then send teammates into space. He could have scored himself, but gave it off to Geyer to go over in the corner. Boofa would fail to convert though.

Rusty Bawden would score the next Melbourne try to take it to an 8–0 lead, crashing through a suspect Bears defensive line. Norths got on the board when Steve Parsons scored his only try for the Bears.5 At 8–6 with five minutes to go until half time, a rousing Melbourne chant can be heard from the travelling Storm fans,6 but it all went pear-shaped soon after, when a Tawera Nikau pass was intercepted by Michael Buettner who ran 75m to score in the corner. Melbourne would level things up at 10–all just before half time from a successful Geyer penalty goal.

Melbourne were denied another ~~fair~~ try when Simpkins thought Ben Anderson was in front of a well weighted Kimmorley grubber, that on the replays was perfectly timed. With no recourse, the Bears were always going to be the next team to score and Buettner got it when he collected his own chip kick from a fortuitous bounce. With Norths now up 16–10, the small crowd were riding the Bears home as they scored again through Scott Pethybridge under the posts for a 22–10 lead.

Melbourne had an immediate response, gaining possession from a short restart leading to Aaron Moule scoring on the fourth tackle of the set. Geyer converted this time for a 22–16 scoreline with over 20 minutes left. A gift two points for Norths took them out to 24–16, but Melbourne would strike back with 12 minutes left through Robbie Ross. The try coming on a last tackle kick, but this time it was a cross field punt from Kimmorley that found Marcus Bai with enough space to offload for Tony Martin who passed inside to Ross to score untouched.

24–20 with ten minutes left, one team winless for months, the other needing a win to consolidate a top four spot.

Melbourne panicked with the ball to turn it over on one set; Richard Swain was denied after he was held up in goal; a desperate tackle stopped Brad Watts just short; and errors ended Melbourne’s last chance to steal it.

The Bears had won their last game at North Sydney Oval and Melbourne received a rude wake up call on the eve of the 1999 finals.

North Sydney – 24 (Buettner 35’, 47’, Parsons 25’, Pethybridge 54’ tries; Taylor 4/6 goals)

Melbourne – 20 (Geyer 12’, Bawden 21’, Moule 56’, Ross 68’ tries; Geyer 2/5 goals)

Stat pack

Melbourne have won all three of their previous matches on 11 April, beating the Bulldogs (2012) and Dragons (2014) at AAMI Park, and the Dragons at Kogarah in 2007.
Melbourne have won 10 of their 21 visits to Brookvale, losing their last visit there in 2022 when Jayden Nikorima started at five-eighth in his only Storm game. Melbourne had won the previous five matches there, to arrest a terrible record there which included six straight losses from 2002 to 2007.
The first loss in that sequence in 2002 was against the Northern Eagles, with Melbourne having a 3-2 record against the merged club.
Overall, Melbourne have a 25-16-1 record against Manly with the only draw coming in dire conditions at AAMI Park in 2013.
In March 2018, Manly were found to have cheated the NRL salary cap by over $1.5m from 2013 onwards, with over 15 players alleged to have been involved. The moral high ground lost another inhabitant7 with Manly legend Bob Fulton heavily involved in the saga. It took the NRL almost a year to sanction the club, with the penalties somewhat lenient for the scale and stupidity of the scheme.

Team line-up

Cameron Munster
Will Warbick
Remis Smith
Justin Olam
Xavier Coates
Jonah Pezet
Jahrome Hughes
Tui Kamikamica
Harry Grant
Trent Loiero
Elisa Katoa
Josh King
Bronson Garlick
Alec MacDonald
Tom Eisenhuth
Tariq Sims
Grant Anderson
~~Aaron Pene~~
Tyran Wishart
~~Sualauvi Fa’alogo~~
~~Jack Howarth~~

Preview

Nick Meaney is out of the match with concussion symptoms, so Cameron Munster switches to fullback and Jonah Pezet comes back into the starting team. Otherwise the squad remains settled, with Tepai Moeroa and Joe Chan potentially heading to Queensland Cup this weekend for much much-needed game time on the road back from injuries.

Man-for-man, Melbourne should have enough class to get over the Sea Eagles, especially if they can hold the ball they way they did against Easts. I’m looking forward to big games from the edge forwards Eliesa Katoa and Trent Loiero, as well as Justin Olam, who has scored 10 tries in just nine matches against Manly.

In his return to the team, Jonah Pezet will be up against the player he nominally replaced in the Storm squad, Cooper Johns. Johns returned ‘home’ to Manly after he was released by the Storm last year, and will partner veteran Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves for Manly, who almost conceded a Bailey score last week against the Panthers.

The heavy defeat from the Panthers is likely the harbinger of the Seibold induced Sea Eagles meltdown that we’ve all been waiting for since he was inexplicably appointed to the job. But Manly will always be dangerous opposition, especially at #FortressShithole.

TripAdvisor’s recommendations for things to do in Brookvale includes three different places where they make alcohol. Surprisingly #FortressShithole is on the list, which can only mean that there is absolutely no reason to visit the area unless you’ve got an additional to alcohol or want to experience the worst of humanity.

Hopefully Melbourne can escape with the two points, to set up a tasty ANZAC Day clash against a much improved Warriors team.

Worth a listen

I’m not a big podcast guy, but sometimes I will seek out an interesting chat, and this two part (less than 30 minutes each) episode of Andy Raymond’s legends series 1-on-1 with Scott Hill was worth a listen. In the words of Molly Meldrum, do yourself a favour on your podcast platform of choice.