First meeting 10 July 1998 Most wins Melbourne Storm (16) | Meetings total 30 | |
 | ||
Teams Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Melbourne Storm Latest meeting Sea Eagles 18 – 38 Storm
(20 August 2016) All-time series Storm: 16 wins
Sea Eagles: 13 wins
1 draw | ||
The Manly–Melbourne NRL rivalry is between two National Rugby League clubs, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm, who are engaged in a modern-day rivalry. They have met 30 times since 1998, with Melbourne leading the head-to-head 16–13; there has also been a drawn match between the two sides. Additionally, they have finished three regular seasons as the top two placed sides on the premiership ladder (2007, 2008 and 2011), although in the cases of 2007 and 2008, the Storm had those minor premierships stripped from them due to the discovery of salary cap breaches in April 2010.
Contents
1998–2005
The Melbourne Storm and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles first met in Round 18 of the 1998 NRL season, with the Storm winning 22–12 at Olympic Park Stadium. Manly's first victory over the Storm came in Round 6 of the 2003 season, with a 20–14 victory at Brookvale Oval.
The rivalry between the two sides started to intensify in 2005, when Manly and Melbourne met in an early-season top-of-the-table clash at Brookvale Oval. Cheered on by a parochial home crowd, the Sea Eagles defeated the Storm 25–18, on their way to reaching their first finals series since 1998, and their first in an ongoing ten-year streak. This match also marked the NRL debut of Steve Matai for the Sea Eagles.
2006–2009
Throughout 2007, Melbourne and Manly were in a two-way tussle for top spot on the ladder for much of the season. They met only once during the regular season, in Round 11, with Manly winning a close and physical match 13–12; the match also featured two serious injuries, whereby Billy Slater copped an accidental knee from team-mate Sam Tagataese and George Rose suffered a horrific leg injury.
The two teams would later feature in the 2007 NRL Grand Final, in the first of two consecutive Grand Finals played between the two clubs. The Storm defeated the Sea Eagles 34–8 to win their second premiership, in a match which was notable for Storm enforcer Michael Crocker taking out Sea Eagles fullback Brett Stewart early in the second half with a hard, but legal tackle; however, on 22 April 2010, Melbourne would be stripped of this premiership due to the discovery of salary cap breaches throughout the courses of the 2006–10 seasons.
There were three meetings between the two clubs in 2008. Melbourne won both of their regular season meetings, including in the Grand Final replay in Round 5, and also at Brookvale Oval later in the season, though it would be the Sea Eagles who would win the match that mattered the most, the 2008 NRL Grand Final; in a rematch of the previous year's premiership decider, the Sea Eagles would record a crushing 40–0 victory to win their seventh premiership title and in the process denying the Storm back-to-back premierships. Two of Manly's standout performers on the day were Winger Michael Robertson who equaled the Grand Final record by scoring 3 tries, and Clive Churchill Medal winner, Prop-forward Brent Kite. This loss was the 3rd worst defeat in the Storms short history, and it was the first time since 1978 in which the losing team did not score a point (coincidentally, Manly also won the 1978 GF replay defeating Cronulla Sutherland 16-0 after the original GF had been drawn 11-all). Manly's 40-0 win over the Storm also broke the record winning margin for a Grand Final, beating the 38-0 win by Eastern Suburbs over St George in 1975.
The rivalry remained strong after 2008, despite there being no subsequent Grand Final meetings between the two clubs. The two teams traded victories at each other's home grounds in 2009, with the Storm winning at Brookvale Oval in Round 8 and the Sea Eagles winning in Melbourne for the first time in Round 24, before the Storm thrashed the Sea Eagles 40–12 in the qualifying final at Etihad Stadium en route to winning another premiership which would also be stripped from them due to salary cap breaches.
2010–present
Manly won both of their premiership meetings in 2010, first at Etihad Stadium in Round 6 by 18–16 (in the last match before the Storm's alleged breaches of the salary cap between 2006 and 2010 were uncovered) and then at Brookvale Oval in Round 22 by 26–6. In both matches, Manly led 18–6 at half-time.
Melbourne then claimed its first victory over Manly since 2009 in Round 1, 2011 in a match in which they could compete for premiership points for the first time since that year, before Manly won a close, but brutal and violent match later in the season, known as the "Battle of Brookvale", where a minor scuffle erupted on the field between Ryan Hinchcliffe and Darcy Lussick, following which Adam Blair and Glenn Stewart were sin-binned for joining in. On their way to the dressing rooms, a major brawl erupted between the two players, which involved players and officials from both sides; the two subsequently had their sin-bin punishments upgraded to a send off, meaning they would take no further part in the match. This was the first match attended by David Gallop of either side since suspending Brett Stewart from the first four weeks of the 2009 season for a sexual assault charge for which he would later be exonerated, and since stripping the Storm of two premiership titles and three minor premiership titles for salary cap breaches; extra security was hired for his presence at the game. Of the match itself, Gallop said:
The sight of so many players from both teams fighting, of people running in and leaving the bench area, was an horrendous look for the game.
In the immediate fallout from the match, both teams were fined $50,000 each and a total of ten players were charged by the NRL judiciary system. At the conclusion of the season, Melbourne and Manly finished as the top two teams on the premiership ladder for the third time in five years. They had seemed destined to face each other in the Grand Final, but whilst the Sea Eagles did ultimately make the decider (and went on to win), the Storm were stopped in their tracks in the preliminary final stage by the New Zealand Warriors, thus denying what could have been a third Storm vs. Sea Eagles Grand Final in five years.
The two teams met only twice in 2012, with Melbourne winning both times; first a very close match at Brookvale Oval in Round 15 by 26–22, followed by a crushing 40–12 victory in the preliminary final at AAMI Park which ended the Sea Eagles' premiership defence and ultimately set Melbourne up to win their second valid premiership and first since the salary cap breaches.
Their first meeting in 2013, in Round 10, produced the first draw between the two clubs, with the final score being 10–all. They met again later in the season, in Round 25, with Manly winning 28–8.
The two meetings between the sides in 2014 were both won by the Storm: the first was a golden point, 23–22 victory in the opening round, in which Storm captain Cameron Smith kicked his first career field goal in extra time, coming after the Storm trailed 20–4 at half-time; the second once again saw the Storm come from behind to win 22–19 over an injury-hit Manly side with debutant Kurt Mann scoring the match winning try with four minutes left.
Manly returned serve in 2015, winning both meetings including their first ever win at AAMI Park. Despite their success against the Storm the Sea Eagles faced a decline in the league failing to make the top eight for the first time since 2004.
In 2016, the sides met in round 25 where the Storm were convincing victors 38–18 thus allowing the Storm to clinch the minor premiership yet again the following weekend whilst the Sea Eagles for the second consecutive season fell short of the eight.
Head to Head
This table only includes competitive matches, excluding all pre-season trials