The 1978 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 32nd in the club's history since their entry into the then New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership in 1947.
The 1978 Sea Eagles were coached by 1963–64 Kangaroo tourist Frank Stanton. Captaining the side was long serving hooker Max Krilich. The club competed in the New South Wales Rugby Football League's 1978 Premiership season and played its home games at the 27,000 capacity Brookvale Oval.NSWRFL 1978 - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 Western Suburbs221615426288+138332 Cronulla-Sutherland221507418261+157303 Manly-Warringah221507427287+140304 Parramatta221408525306+219285 Canterbury-Bankstown221327307273+34286 Eastern Suburbs221309377280+57267 South Sydney221219298300-2258 St. George2210111367354+13219 Balmain229112337344-71910 Penrith224216206463-2571011 North Sydney224117325439-114912 Newtown222119199577-3785
Regular season
Finals Major Prelim Semi-Final
Minor Semi-Final
Minor Semi-Final Replay
Preliminary Final
Grand Final
FB 1Graham EadieLW 2Tom MooneyCE 3Russel GartnerCE 4Stephen KnightRW 5Simon BoothFE 6Alan ThompsonHB 7Steve MartinLK 8Ian MartinSR 9Terry RandallSR 10Bruce WalkerPR 11John HarveyHK 12Max Krilich (c)PR 13Ian ThomsonSubstitutions:IC 14IC 15Coach: Frank Stanton FB 1Mick MullaneLW 2Rick BourkeCE 3Steve Rogers (c)CE 4Dave ChamberlinRW 5Steve EdmondsFE 6Barry AndrewsHB 7Steve HansardLK 8John GlossopSR 9Eric ArcherSR 10Steve KneenPR 11Gary StaresHK 12John McMartinPR 13Paul KhanSubstitutions:IC 14Rowland BeckettIC 15Coach: Norm Provan
In the Grand Final, Cronulla went to a 9-4 lead in the second half before Manly came back to hit the front 11-9. A Steve Rogers penalty squared it at 11-all but he then missed a desperate late field-goal attempt and at full-time the scores remained locked. For the second consecutive season the weary Grand Finalists were required to play a mid-week rematch three days later (the NSWRFL were forced to play the replay on the Tuesday and not the following weekend due to the upcoming 1978 Kangaroo tour, with the Australian team due to leave that weekend for their tour. The drawn GF also forced the Australian Rugby League to hold off on naming the touring squad until after the GF replay with as many as 12 players from Manly and Cronulla in contention to be selected).
Grand Final Replay
FB 1Graham EadieLW 2Tom MooneyCE 3Russel GartnerCE 4Stephen KnightRW 5Simon BoothFE 6Alan ThompsonHB 7Steve MartinLK 8Ian MartinSR 9Terry RandallSR 10Bruce WalkerPR 11John HarveyHK 12Max Krilich (c)PR 13Ian ThomsonSubstitutions:IC 14Ray BranighanIC 15Wayne SpringallCoach: Frank Stanton FB 1Rick BourkeLW 2Chris GardnerCE 3Steve Rogers (c)CE 4Dave ChamberlinRW 5Steve EdmondsFE 6Martin RafteryHB 7Steve HansardLK 8John GlossopSR 9Eric ArcherSR 10Steve KneenPR 11Peter RyanHK 12Rowland BeckettPR 13Paul KhanSubstitutions:IC 14IC 15Coach: Norm Provan
The Tuesday rematch in front of 33,552 was Manly's sixth game in twenty-four days. It was the second Grand Final in a row to end up going into a mid-week replay with the 1977 Grand Final between St George and Parramatta also needing a re-match to decide the Premiers after the original game had been a 9-all draw.
In the first half Cronulla had no answer to Graham Eadie's blind-side bursts. His display completely routed the hapless Sharks and Manly went to the break holding a 15-0 lead thanks to a try by Eadie in the scoreboard corner, one he set up for centre Russel Gartner in the same corner, and another 65 metre effort by Gartner after a sweeping backline movement saw him run into open space and easily outpace the Sharks defence to score in front of the Sheridan Stand.
The only points in the second half came from a field goal by Eadie.
In the replay, Manly were led by captain Max Krilich and coach Frank Stanton. Terry Randall played in the finals despite requiring pain-killing injections before matches. Key contributors included five-eighth Alan Thompson and fullback Graham Eadie, who was named man of the match.
As of the 2016 NRL Grand Final, no player since Eadie has scored the combination of a try, a goal and a field-goal in a Grand Final.
The refereeing of Greg "Hollywood" Hartley in the replay and throughout the 1978 Finals series attracted criticism from coaches Roy Masters (Western Suburbs), Jack Gibson (South Sydney) and Terry Fearnley (Parramatta), all of whom appealed to the NSWRFL to prohibit Hartley from refereeing their clubs' matches the following season.
Player statistics Note: Games and (sub) show total games played, e.g. 1 (1) is 2 games played. Player Games (sub) Tries Goals FG Points David Adams Tony Ashworth Simon Booth 8 24 Ray Branighan 3 9 Greg Gross Lindsay Drake 1 3 Graham Eadie 6 52 2 124 Russel Gartner 10 30 Johnny Gibbs 9 2 29 John Gray 4 61 134 John Harvey 1 3 Mick Healey Ray Higgs 1 3 Stephen Knight 5 15 Max Krilich (c) 3 9 Ian Martin 2 6 Steve Martin 7 1 22 Chris Montgomery 1 3 Tom Mooney 11 33 Ed Planten Terry Randall (vc) 2 6 Wayne Springall 1 3 Alan Thompson 5 15 Ian Thomson 6 18 Gary Thoroughgood Bruce Walker 6 18TOTAL 93 113 5 510
Representative Players International
Australia – Graham Eadie, Johnny Gibbs, Max Krilich, Steve Martin, Alan Thompson, Ian Thomson, Bruce Walker, Frank Stanton (coach)
State New South Wales – Graham Eadie, Johnny Gibbs, Max Krilich, Steve Martin, Terry Randall, Ian Thomson, Frank Stanton (coach)
City vs Country City Firsts – Terry Randall, Ian Thomson, Frank Stanton (coach) City Seconds – Russel Gartner, Johnny Gibbs, Bruce Walker, Frank Stanton (coach)
References
External links Manly Warringah Sea Eagles official website National Rugby League official website