The 1996 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 50th in the club's history since their entry into the then New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership in 1947.
The 1996 Sea Eagles were coached by triple Manly premiership player and 1987 Premiership winning coach Bob Fulton. Captaining the side was local junior, halfback Geoff Toovey. The club competed in the Australian Rugby League's 1996 Premiership season and played its home games at the 27,000 capacity Brookvale Oval.ARL 1996 - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles22 1804549191+358362 Brisbane Broncos211704607263+344343 North Sydney Bears221525598325+273324 Sydney City Roosters221516521321+200315 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks211425399268+131306 Canberra Raiders211317538384+154277 St. George Dragons211218443360+83278 Western Suburbs Magpies221219394434−40259 Newcastle Knights2110110416388+282310 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs2111010375378−32211 Auckland Warriors2110011412427−152212 Sydney Tigers2211011319459−1402213 Parramatta Eels219111404415−112114 Illawarra Steelers228014403444−411615 Penrith Panthers217113363464−1011516 Western Reds216114313420−1071317 North Queensland Cowboys216015288643−3551218 Gold Coast Chargers225116359521−1621119 South Sydney Rabbitohs225116314634−3201120 South Queensland Crushers213018220496−2768
Regular season
Finals Qualifying Final
Preliminary Final
Grand Final
FB 1Matthew RidgeRW 2Danny MooreLC 3Craig InnesRC 4Terry HillLW 5John HopoateFE 13Nik KosefHB 7Geoff Toovey (c)PR 17David GillespieHK 9Jim SerdarisPR 10Mark CarrollSR 11Steve MenziesSR 12Daniel GartnerLK 8Owen CunninghamSubstitutions:IC 6Cliff LyonsIC 14Neil TierneyIC 16Des HaslerIC 19Craig HancockCoach: Bob Fulton FB 1Dean RaperRW 2Nick ZistiRC 3Mark Coyne (c)LC 4Mark BellLW 5Adrian BrunkerFE 6Anthony MundineHB 7Noel GoldthorpePR 8Troy StoneHK 9Jeff HardyPR 10Luke FelschSR 11Scott GourleySR 12Kevin CampionLK 13Wayne BartrimSubstitutions:IC 14Nathan BrownIC 15Lance ThompsonIC 16David BarnhillIC 17Colin WardCoach: David Waite
1st half In the 5th minute, Manly centre Craig Innes won the chase and scored after a grubber kick by his skipper Geoff Toovey. Matthew Ridge converted from the sideline for 6–0. The Dragons played on after being awarded a penalty in front of the posts in the 8th minute but failed to score. At the 15-minute mark Saints' halfback Noel Goldthorpe conceded a penalty right in front of their goalpost after committing a head high tackle on Manly's Daniel Gartner. Ridge took the kick, extending the lead to 8–0. St. George sent in forward replacements Lance Thompson and David Barnhill for Scott Gourley and Kevin Campion (head cut). For Manly, Tierney came off the interchange bench to replace Gillespie. Up until the 19th minute mark when Manly veteran five-eighth Cliff Lyons took the field, their coach Bob Fulton was using six running forwards with Toovey as dummy half.
After turning down a relatively easy penalty goal chance not long after Manly's opening try, the Dragons' first points came in the 37th minute when Wayne Bartrim kicked a penalty awarded when Manly forward Cunningham stripped the ball. From the ensuing kick-off just before half-time came the game's controversial moment and a hotly disputed try. Ridge made a spectacular short kick-off and regathered, catching the Dragons unaware. St George hooker Nathan Brown appeared to tackle Ridge albeit one-handedly and by the collar. Ridge got up and ran when Brown was expecting him to stop and play the ball. Referee David Manson ruled that Brown did not complete the tackle. Ridge was eventually tackled just a few metres from the line. From dummy-half Nik Kosef then passed the ball to Steve Menzies who stormed his way through Saints' defense of Thompson, Raper, Goldthorpe and Bartrim to score next to the posts, giving Ridge an easy conversion kick. The controversial ruling by referee Manson gave Manly a 14–2 half time lead and broke Saints' resolve. In the process of scoring Menzies injured his groin/hamstring and although he returned for the second half, he was unable to run and was eventually replaced by coach Fulton.
2nd half In the 53rd minute Manly's Danny Moore scored a try from a Terry Hill pass after Hill drew Saints defenders, Adrian Brunker and Nick Zisti. With Ridge off the field after being concussed in a tackle, Innes converted from 5m off the sideline for the Sea-Eagles to take a 20–2 lead. Five minutes later Dragons' winger Zisti scored a try from a Bartrim cut-out pass. Bartrim then converted from the sideline for a final scoreline of 20–8. The final twenty minutes were scoreless with two field goal attempts from Ridge charged down by Dragons' defenders.
In the days leading up to the game, Bob Fulton had named Manly's starting forward pack to be: Owen Cunningham, Jim Serdaris, Mark Carroll, Steve Menzies, Daniel Gartner and Nik Kosef. However, as had been usual over Manly's previous 4-5 games, before kick-off Fulton pulled a switch. He moved Cliff Lyons to the bench and started Kosef at 5/8. David Gillespie (wearing No.17) came off the bench to start at prop with Cunningham moved back to his usual position of lock. This actually meant that Owen Cunningham became the last Grand Final winning lock forward (as of 2024) to wear the old lock number of 8.
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 Mark Carroll 23 3 12 Owen Cunningham 24 2 8 Matt Dunford (2) Jack Elsegood 13 (4) 6 5/8 34 Scott Fulton (5) Daniel Gartner 19 (4) 6 24 David Gillespie 17 (8) Mathew Guberina 2 (1) Craig Hancock (3) Des Hasler 10 (12) 2 1/2 10 Solomon Haumono 1 (13) 1 4 Terry Hill 22 7 28 John Hopoate 18 (5) 11 44 Craig Innes 25 13 6/7 64 Martin-John Kelly (1) Nik Kosef 18 (6) 3 12 Cliff Lyons 20 (5) 4 16 Steve Menzies 24 20 80 Danny Moore 25 13 52 Shannon Nevin 5 (4) 3 17/26 46 Matthew Ridge (vc) 17 7 68/84 1 165 Jim Serdaris 18 (1) Neil Tierney 1 (19) Geoff Toovey (c) 23 3 12TOTAL 104 96/148 1 609
Representative Players International Australia – Mark Carroll, Daniel Gartner, Terry Hill, Nik Kosef, Steve Menzies, Geoff Toovey New Zealand – Matthew Ridge (c)
State
New South Wales – Steve Menzies, Geoff Toovey Queensland – Owen Cunningham
City vs Country City Origin – Mark Carroll, Terry Hill, Steve Menzies, Geoff Toovey
References
External links Manly Warringah Sea Eagles official website National Rugby League official website