The Manly Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm have been going at it for the good-side of 20 years, building a fierce rivalry that has produced plenty of fireworks over the seasons. The two foes played back-to-back Grand Finals against each other in 2007 and 2008, a rare circumstance that has yet to be done since.
The Storm was victorious in 2007 and, quite frankly, by far the best team in the competition, who sat six-points clear in first place. They met with the second-placed Manly, who lost their star fullback Brett Stewart early, and the side wasn't able to get out of second gear, letting the Storm run rampant in a 34-8 win.
12 months later, revenge was on the Sea Eagles' mind, producing one of the most complete demolition efforts ever in a Grand Final, winning 40-0 and sending the retiring Steve Menzie off as a Grand Final-winning legend. The Sea Eagles were a much silkier attacking outfit this time round, winning all three of their finals matches with a combined result of 110-12 points.
Here are some of the best showdowns that highlight why this rivalry is so special.
3. Round 9, 2014 - Kurt Mann's dazzling debut
The teams met again following their golden point thriller in Round 1. This time the Sea Eagles were without Kieran Foran, Glenn Stewart and Jamie Lyon. Slater was in everything, making line breaks and scoring two crucial tries in a packed AAMI Park. Manly came back and jumped out to a 19-10 score with tries to Stewart, Jorge Taufua and Jamie Buhrer with ten to go before Cronk worked his magic with a deft kick, bringing the deficit to three.
With four minutes to go, in a Houdini act, NRL debutant Kurt Mann caught a superb cross-field kick from Cronk to seal the victory. There was barely anything in it separating the two sides in 2014, but Storm came away with 2/2 wins in the home and away season.
