1987 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season

1987 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season
NSWRL champions
NSWRL Rank	1st
1987 record	Wins: 20; draws: 1; losses: 5
Points scored	For: 581; against: 370
Team information
Secretary	Doug Daley
Coach	Bob Fulton
Assistant coach	Alan Thompson (Reserve Grade)
Captains	Paul Vautin Noel Cleal (vice-captain)
Stadium	Brookvale Oval
Top scorers
Tries	Dale Shearer (13)
Goals	Mal Cochrane (59)
Points	Mal Cochrane (138)
← 1986 1988 →

The 1987 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 41st in the club's history since their entry into the then New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership in 1947.

The 1987 Sea Eagles were coached by triple Manly premiership player and former Kangaroo Tour captain Bob Fulton. Captaining the side was Queensland back rower Paul Vautin. The club competed in the New South Wales Rugby League's 1987 Premiership season and played its home games at the 27,000 capacity Brookvale Oval.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly-Warringah	24	18	1	5	2	553	356	+197	41
2	Eastern Suburbs	24	15	1	8	2	390	353	+37	35
3	Canberra	24	15	0	9	2	441	325	+116	34
4	Balmain	24	14	1	9	2	469	349	+120	33
5	South Sydney	24	13	1	10	2	310	342	-32	31
6	Canterbury-Bankstown	24	13	0	11	2	353	316	+37	30
7	Parramatta	24	12	0	12	2	417	411	+6	28
8	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	11	1	12	2	390	433	-43	27
9	St. George	24	10	2	12	2	394	409	-15	26
10	North Sydney	24	11	0	13	2	368	401	-33	26
11	Illawarra	24	8	0	16	2	372	449	-77	20
12	Penrith	24	6	1	17	2	274	399	-125	17
13	Western Suburbs	24	5	2	17	2	339	527	-188	16

Regular season

Sunday 1 March	St. George Dragons	4 – 4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney
	Tries: Goals: Bronko Djura (2/3)		Tries: Goals: Mal Cochrane (2/2)	Attendance: 10,650 Referee: Giles O'Donnell

---

Sunday 8 March	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	42 – 18	Penrith Panthers	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Dale Shearer (3), Mal Cochrane, Des Hasler, Martin Meredith, David Ronson Goals: Mal Cochrane (6/9) Michael O'Connor (1/1)		Tries: Craig Connor, Ben Gonzales, Matt Goodwin Goals: Mark Bevan (3/3)	Attendance: 6,374 Referee: Graham Annesley

---

Sunday 15 March	Western Suburbs Magpies	11 – 22	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Orana Park, Sydney
	Tries: John Allanson Goals: Ian Schubert (3/6)		Tries: Des Hasler, Michael O'Connor, David Ronson, Dale Shearer Goals: Mal Cochrane (3/5)	Attendance: 8,822 Referee: Mick Stone

---

Sunday 22 March	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	16 – 13	Parramatta Eels	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Ian Barkley, Mal Cochrane, Des Hasler, Steve Park Goals: Michael O'Connor (2/3) Mal Cochrane (1/3)		Tries: Goals: John Muggleton (2/2)	Attendance: 17,757 Referee: Mick Stone

---

Bye

---

Sunday 5 April	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	18 – 6	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney
	Tries: Michael Hagan, Steve Mortimer Goals: Terry Lamb (5/6)		Tries: Jeremy Ticehurst Goals: Mal Cochrane (1/3)	Attendance: 13,553 Referee: Mick Stone

---

Sunday 12 April	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	18 – 28	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Ian Barkley, Cliff Lyons, Michael O'Connor Goals: Michael O'Connor (3/4)		Tries: David Boyle, Wayne Chisholm, Mario Fenech, Steve Mavin, Ian Roberts Goals: Michael Andrews (4/7)	Attendance: 14,601 Referee: Graham Annesley

---

Monday 20 April	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	18 – 13	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Caltex Field, Sydney
	Tries: Greg Nixon, Ron Quinn, Sean Watson Goals: Sean Watson (3/7)		Tries: Des Hasler, Dale Shearer Goals: Michael O'Connor (2/3) Field Goals: Cliff Lyons (1)	Attendance: 10,931 Referee: Bill Harrigan

---

Saturday 25 April	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	18 – 10	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Chris Close, Mark Pocock, Paul Vautin Goals: Mal Cochrane (3/4)		Tries: Wayne Portlock Goals: Tony Melrose (3/4)	Attendance: 10,247 Referee: Mick Stone

---

Saturday 2 May	Canberra Raiders	10 – 18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan
	Tries: Sam Backo, Ashley Gilbert Goals: Phil Carey (1/2)		Tries: Greg Austin, Noel Cleal, Cliff Lyons Goals: Mal Cochrane (3/4)	Attendance: 4,885 Referee: Greg McCallum

---

Sunday 10 May	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	22 – 12	Illawarra Steelers	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Stuart Davis (2), Dale Shearer, Jeremy Ticehurst Goals: Mal Cochrane (3/6)		Tries: Graeme Bradley, Perry Haddock Goals: Dean Carney (2/4)	Attendance: 7,053 Referee: Kevin Roberts

---

Sunday 17 May	North Sydney Bears	22 – 30	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	North Sydney Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Mark Cannon, Greg Florimo, Ian French Goals: John Dorahy (5/5)		Tries: Noel Cleal (2), Ian Barkley, Dale Shearer Goals: Mal Cochrane (7/7)	Attendance: 11,391 Referee: Greg McCallum

---

Sunday 24 May	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	48 – 14	Balmain Tigers	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Darrell Williams (3), Ron Gibbs (2), Mal Cochrane, Stuart Davis, Michael O'Connor, David Ronson Goals: Mal Cochrane (6/9)		Tries: Benny Elias, Russel Gartner Goals: Lee Crooks (3/3)	Attendance: 25,448 Referee: Kevin Roberts

---

Sunday 7 June	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	20 – 6	St. George Dragons	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Des Hasler, Dale Shearer, Darrell Williams Goals: Mal Cochrane (3/6) Michael O'Connor (1/1)		Tries: Graeme Wynn Goals: Ricky Walford (1/2)	Attendance: 12,041 Referee: Mick Stone

---

Sunday 14 June	Penrith Panthers	10 – 12	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Penrith Park, Sydney
	Tries: Mark Robinson Goals: Andrew Fitzhenry (3/4)		Tries: Stuart Davis Goals: Mal Cochrane (4/4)	Attendance: Barry Barnes Referee: 8,287

---

Sunday 21 June	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	26 – 25	Western Suburbs Magpies	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Stuart Davis (2), Cliff Lyons, Michael O'Connor, David Ronson Goals: Mal Cochrane (3/7)		Tries: John Allanson, Trevor Cogger, Ian Naden, Paul Sheahan Goals: Ian Schubert (3/6) Hew Rees (1/1) Field Goals: Ian Naden (1)	Attendance: 10,732 Referee: Bill Harrigan

---

Sunday 28 June	Parramatta Eels	22 – 30	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney
	Tries: Tony Chalmers, Michael Erickson, Brett Kenny, Bob Lindner, John Muggleton Goals: John Muggleton (1/5)		Tries: Dale Shearer (2), Des Hasler, Cliff Lyons, Michael O'Connor, David Ronson Goals: Michael O'Connor (3/6)	Attendance: 25,139 Referee: Kevin Roberts

---

Bye

---

Sunday 12 July	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	32 – 2	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Greg Austin, Noel Cleal, Ron Gibbs, Des Hasler, Martin Meredith Goals: Mal Cochrane (6/8)		Tries: Goals: Terry Lamb (1/2)	Attendance: 16,252 Referee: Greg McCallum

---

Sunday 19 July	South Sydney Rabbitohs	13 – 16	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Redfern Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Craig Coleman, Steve Mavin Goals: Mark Ellison (2/3) Field Goals: Mark Ellison (1)		Tries: Ron Gibbs, Cliff Lyons Goals: Mal Cochrane (4/6)	Attendance: 23,257 Referee: Mick Stone

---

Sunday 26 July	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	30 – 8	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Michael O'Connor (2), Dale Shearer (2), Mal Cochrane, Stuart Davis Goals: Michael O'Connor (3/6)		Tries: Jonathan Docking Goals: Sean Watson (1/3) Alan Wilson (1/1)	Attendance: 14,323 Referee: Graham Annesley

---

Sunday 2 August	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	26 – 16	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Henson Park, Sydney
	Tries: Steve Morris (2), Brendan Hall, David Smith Goals: David Smith (5/5)		Tries: Noel Cleal, Michael O'Connor, Darrell Williams Goals: Michael O'Connor (2/3)	Attendance: 6,573 Referee: Graham Annesley

---

Sunday 9 August	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	20 – 18	Canberra Raiders	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Mal Cochrane, Martin Meredith, Kevin Ward Goals: Mal Cochrane (4/5)		Tries: Sam Backo, Ashley Gilbert, Kevin Walters Goals: Matthew Corkery (3/5)	Attendance: 9,114 Referee: Bill Harrigan

---

Sunday 16 August	Illawarra Steelers	17 – 28	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Wollongong Showground, Wollongong
	Tries: Steve Larder (2), Graeme Bradley Goals: Dean Carney (2/5) Field Goals: Chris Withall (1)		Tries: Noel Cleal (2), Paul Shaw, Michael O'Connor Goals: Michael O'Connor (4/4)	Attendance: 10,740 Referee: Giles O'Donnell

---

Sunday 23 August	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	30 – 32	North Sydney Bears	Brookvale Oval, Sydney
	Tries: Stuart Davis, Michael O'Connor, David Ronson, Dale Shearer, Martin Meredith Goals: Michael O'Connor (5/7)		Tries: Mark Cannon (2), John McArthur (2), Ian French, Kevin Marr Goals: John McArthur (4/7)	Attendance: 13,913 Referee: Bill Harrigan

---

Sunday 30 August	Balmain Tigers	8 – 26	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Leichhardt Oval, Sydney
	Tries: John Davidson, Garry Schofield Goals:		Tries: Des Hasler (2), Cliff Lyons, David Ronson Goals: Michael O'Connor (5/5)	Attendance: 13,557 Referee: Graham Annesley

Finals

Major Semi-Final

Sunday 3 September	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	10 – 6	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
	Tries: David Ronson Goals: Michael O'Connor (3/3)		Tries: David French Goals: David Smith (1/2)	Attendance: 36,399 Referee: Greg McCallum

Grand final

Sunday 27 September

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	18 – 8	Canberra Raiders
Tries: Cliff Lyons Michael O'Connor Goals: Michael O'Connor (5/5)		Tries: Chris O'Sullivan Goals: Mal Meninga (1/1) Gary Belcher (1/1)

Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 50,201 Referee: Mick Stone Player of the Match: Cliff Lyons

Manly-Warringah

Canberra

FB 1 Dale Shearer RW 2 David Ronson CE 3 Darrell Williams CE 4 Michael O'Connor LW 5 Stuart Davis FE 6 Cliff Lyons HB 7 Des Hasler LK 8 Paul Vautin (c) SR 9 Noel Cleal SR 10 Ron Gibbs PR 11 Kevin Ward HK 12 Mal Cochrane PR 13 Phil Daley Substitutions: IC 20 Paul Shaw IC 24 Mark Pocock Coach: Bob Fulton

FB 1 Gary Belcher RW 2 Chris Kinna CE 3 Mal Meninga CE 4 Peter Jackson LW 5 Matthew Corkery FE 6 Chris O'Sullivan HB 7 Ivan Henjak LK 8 Dean Lance (c) SR 9 Gary Coyne SR 10 Ashley Gilbert PR 11 Sam Backo HK 12 Steve Walters PR 13 Brent Todd Substitutions: IC 14 Kevin Walters IC 15 Terry Regan Coach: Don Furner and Wayne Bennett

From the outset Manly's Cliff Lyons attempted to find gaps out wide in Canberra's defence and kept the Raiders hemmed in on their own side of half-way with his astute kicking. Lyons stepped inside the Raiders' defence and after a seventy-metre burst found Noel Cleal stampeding on to the ball but Cleal's final pass to Des Hasler was ruled forward. Another promising Manly raid broke down when Lyons' reverse pass to O'Connor was put to ground.

Manly continued to put pressure on the Raiders defence with both speedsters Michael O'Connor and Dale Shearer trying to catch the Raiders out with long range kicks to their in-goal area in front of the SCG hill, but both were only just beaten to the ball each time by Gary Belcher and Gary Coyne respectively.

In the 27th minute Lyons eventually broke through on his third threatening attempt. Scurrying from a scrum win on the Canberra quarter-line, Lyons brushed off the tackle of Chris O'Sullivan and stepped inside Belcher to score.

The Sea Eagles led 6–0 at half-time, with a ball-and-all tackle by Belcher on Dale Shearer just two metres from the Canberra tryline preventing the lead being greater.

From the restart kick-off Belcher fielded the ball in his in-goal but was penalised for shepherding behind Chris O'Sullivan as he ran the ball out. It was a gift penalty for O'Connor to take Manly out to an 8–0 lead.

The Sea Eagles kept the pressure on Canberra by charging down two attempted clearing kicks by a tiring Mal Meninga. Only occasionally did the Raiders break through. After a run by Peter Jackson, Manly's Phil Daley was penalised for a high tackle and Meninga's goal finally put Canberra on the scoreboard.

Fatigue and the heat began to take a toll on the players, though one of the more surprising efforts was Manly's English prop Kevin Ward who ran and tackled strongly all day. Meninga, who had only played 60 minutes of football since breaking his arm in a game against Manly almost two months earlier, was replaced by Kevin Walters after 15 minutes of the second half and Manly's Gibbs, Cleal and Cochrane all went down hurt at different stages as the pace of the match slowed (for his part, Cochrane still can not remember the second half). Soon after a successful penalty goal from O'Connor, a Dale Shearer cross field kick from the Raiders 22m line was grounded over the line by O'Connor in the Paddington corner. While Manly winger David Ronson was thought to be offside (though he did not get involved in the play, he was still within 10 metres of O'Connor), many claim that the Manly centre should have been ruled offside as he got the ball "rather quickly" (television replays would prove inconclusive as there was no footage of where O'Conner was when Shearer kicked). However, referee Mick Stone ruled that Manly's international centre was onside and O'Connor was awarded the try. He converted his own try (giving him 4/4 goals at that point) and Manly had a premiership winning 16–2 lead.

A brief hope of a fightback loomed after an ingeniously constructed "trojan horse" move by Canberra. Chris O'Sullivan went down "injured" after being tackled and then miraculously popped up in the next passage of play to take the inside pass from Ivan Henjak and score. With Meninga off the ground, Gary Belcher converted to narrow the scores to 16–8.

Ron Gibbs' return from the head-bin helped snap the Sea Eagles out of their complacency. Daley's tackle on Canberra replacement Terry Regan and Dale Shearer's try-saving tackle on Ashley Gilbert three minutes from full-time ended any chance of a Canberra fightback. Paul Vautin led the charge back up-field with Hasler being bundled into the corner post after a run-around movement with O'Connor. The Manly centre also had a try taken off him just minutes after his previous try when Mick Stone ruled a pass from Cliff Lyons had gone forward.

Right on full-time, O'Connor landed his fifth goal from five attempts after the Raiders were penalised in front of their own posts for being offside after a tap-kick restart. The 18–8 scoreline was a fair indication of Manly's supremacy on the day and a just result considering the Sea Eagles' consistency throughout the year.

Manly became the first team other than Canterbury-Bankstown or Parramatta to win the grand final during the 1980s (Manly had been beaten grand finalists in 1982 and 1983, losing both times to Parramatta).

For Manly coach Bob Fulton, premiership glory in a nine-year coaching career was finally achieved. For the dual Canberra coaches it marked a milestone. It was a sad ending to the long club coaching career of Don Furner, the man who brought Canberra into the competition. For his partner Wayne Bennett, the tactician behind the side, it was a disappointing exit but another door was about to open on his own stellar coaching career with the Brisbane Broncos and a continuing career as Queensland Origin coach.

1987 World Club Challenge

Main article: 1987 World Club Challenge

1987 saw the second World Club Challenge game between the reigning New South Wales Rugby League premiers and the reigning Rugby Football League (England) champions. This game was held in England less than two weeks following the 1987 NSWRL grand final.

The match was played at 7:45pm on a dry Wednesday night, 7 October at the Central Park ground in Wigan. A crowd of 36,895 was in attendance for the game, though unofficial estimates from those present put the attendance as high as 50,000. The game was refereed by RFL international referee John Holdsworth. Former four-time Manly premiership winning Fullback Graham Eadie, who at the time was playing in England with 1987 Challenge Cup winners Halifax, was on hand as a match commentator as was dual Manly premiership player (and captain of the 1978 team) and the skipper of the 1982 Invincibles, Max Krilich.

Wednesday, 7 October

Wigan	8 – 2	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Tries: Goals: David Stephenson (4)		Tries: Goals: Michael O'Connor (1)

Central Park, Wigan Attendance: 36,895 Referee: John Holdsworth Player of the Match: Shaun Wane

Wigan

Manly-Warringah

FB 1 Steve Hampson RW 2 Richard Russell CE 3 Darrell Williams CE 4 Joe Lydon LW 5 Henderson Gill SO 6 Shaun Edwards SH 7 Andy Gregory PR 8 Brian Case HK 9 Nicky Kiss PR 10 Shaun Wane SR 11 Andy Goodway SR 12 Ian Potter LF 13 Ellery Hanley (c) Substitutions: IC 14 Ged Byrne IC 15 Graeme West IC 16 Ian Gildart IC 17 Ian Lucas Coach: Graham Lowe

FB 1 Dale Shearer RW 2 David Ronson CE 3 Darrell Williams CE 4 Michael O'Connor LW 5 Stuart Davis FE 6 Cliff Lyons HB 7 Des Hasler LK 8 Paul Vautin (c) SR 9 Owen Cunningham SR 10 Ron Gibbs PR 11 Ian Gately HK 12 Mal Cochrane PR 13 Phil Daley Substitutions: IC 14 Mark Brokenshire IC 15 Jeremy Ticehurst IC 16 Mark Pocock IC 17 Paul Shaw Coach: Bob Fulton

No tries were scored in what was a closely fought and, at times, spiteful encounter. Michael O'Connor opened the scoring for Manly with a successful penalty kick in only the second minute, which would turn out to be the only time the Sea Eagles scored. Tempers flared as the match went on, punctuated by more penalties and a few unsavoury incidents:

• Manly forward Ron Gibbs became the first person to be sent off in a World Club Challenge match for illegal use of the elbow when taking out Joe Lydon high after he attempted a drop-goal;
• An all-in brawl erupted after Dale Shearer was lifted in a tackle then started a punch-up in the ruck with Brian Case;
• After taking Manly captain Paul Vautin over the touchline, a group of Wigan defenders went on to take him over the fence causing another all-in brawl;
• Later, when Shearer brought down Lydon in defence, he appeared to step on the Great Britain international's head as he got up after making the tackle.

Amongst all of these incidents Wigan's David Stephenson kicked four penalty goals, which in the end would prove decisive. The score was 8 - 2 in favour of the home side as the final whistle blew, prompting the overjoyed Wigan supporters to flood onto the field to celebrate with the players.

In his biography The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin written by Mike Coleman and released in 1992, the Manly captain told that the Sea Eagles players were so convinced that they would beat Wigan after their grand final win over the Canberra Raiders and after the undefeated 1986 Kangaroo Tour, that they treated the trip to England more as a holiday than anything serious and continued celebrating their GF win while there. Vautin and the other Manly players believe that their poor attitude is what ultimately cost them the game. Wigan on the other hand, led by their Kiwi coach Graham Lowe and featuring 11 Great Britain and one New Zealand international (compared to 5 Australian and one New Zealand international for Manly), took the game very seriously with pride their main motivation after the Great Britain Lions had been humiliated by the Australian's with 4 straight 3-0 Ashes series losses since the disastrous 1979 Australasian tour and the popular belief that the NSWRL Premiership was superior to the RFL's.

In a twist, after leading Wigan to numerous cup titles over the next two seasons, Graham Lowe would become Manly's head coach from 1990 to 1992.

Player statistics

Note: Games and (sub) show total games played, e.g. 1 (1) is 2 games played. List does not include World Club Challenge.

Player	Games (sub)	Tries	Goals	FG	Points
Greg Austin	1 (3)	2			8
Ian Barkley	11 (1)	4			16
Mark Brokenshire	12
Noel Cleal (vc)	14 (1)	7			28
Chris Close	8 (2)	1			4
Mal Cochrane	25	5	59/92		138
Mitchell Cox	(2)
Peter Cullum	(3)
Owen Cunningham	4 (2)
Phil Daley	18
Stuart Davis	15 (1)	8			32
Ian Gately	4 (3)
Ron Gibbs	26	4			16
Marty Gurr	3 (1)
Charlie Haggett	(1)
Des Hasler	24	9			36
Matthew Loft	(1)
Cliff Lyons	21 (1)	7		1	29
Martin Meredith	7 (4)	3			12
Michael O'Connor	21	11	39/51		122
Steve Park	7	1			4
Mark Pocock	6 (12)	1			4
David Ronson	22 (2)	8			32
Glenn Ryan	(3)
Paul Shaw	2 (9)	2			8
Dale Shearer	20	13			52
Jeremy Ticehurst	9 (4)	3			12
Paul Vautin (c)	23	1			4
Kevin Ward	11	1			4
Darrell Williams	22	5			20
TOTAL		96	98/143	1	581

Representative Players

International

• Australia – Michael O'Connor, Dale Shearer
• New Zealand – Darrell Williams

State

Main article: 1987 State of Origin series

• New South Wales – Noel Cleal, Phil Daley, Des Hasler, Cliff Lyons, Michael O'Connor
• Queensland – Dale Shearer, Paul Vautin

City vs Country

• City Origin – Des Hasler, Michael O'Connor
• Country Origin – Ron Gibbs, Noel Cleal, Mal Cochrane

External links

• Manly Warringah Sea Eagles official website
• National Rugby League official website