So, here we go again, Manly and Parra. Parra’s well ahead but the gap starts to narrow. Manly’s coming back, it seems like they’re built out of steel. How do you feel?
Whenever I hear this classic 1984 TV commercial, I don’t feel the need to crack a cold can of Tooheys — like you need an excuse! — but I do cast my mind back to a far simpler time for rugby league.
And Manly and Parra.
Back then, we consumed one, maybe two newspapers a day. We watched the 6pm news, listened to the wireless. Social media was going to a mate’s place to watch Hey! Hey! It’s Saturday.
We weren’t bombarded with stories about players or coaches switching clubs. Sure, those stories were still around. But they weren’t coming at you every time you picked up a mobile phone, because you didn’t have a mobile phone.
Neither did players. They also didn’t have managers. They had jobs.
In the 1984 commercial, the Eels’ Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny battled with Phil Blake and Noel Cleal, and all those wonderful players of the day.
You can’t help but wonder what money they would have attracted if they played 30 years later with the game fully professionalised and with a salary cap of $11.4 million, minimum salary of $120,000, and an average salary of $340,000.
How would Sterlo have handled the pressure of signing a $13 million, 10-year-deal with Newcastle that doesn’t start until next year? How would Phil Blake have dealt with telling the Sea Eagles he was leaving at the end of the season … in March?
These are the dynamics presently at play for Manly and Parra.
Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown is still grappling with the enormity of his Knights deal, while Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans rocked the rugby league casbah with news on Monday he was leaving Manly after 16 years.
Eyes will be fixed on both when their sides clash at Four Pines Park on Sunday afternoon. Nothing like a Sundee arvo at Brookie to shake off those contract blues.
Cherry-Evans, an evergreen 36 who has played more than 330 matches, is best place to handle the scrutiny, possibly from his own fans. He’s had a target on his back for most of his career.
Brown is learning — and fast — the pressure of carrying an enormous contract on your shoulders.
And another thing …
How good to hear the Ashes are back for the first time in 22 years with the rebirth of the Kangaroo tour.
The three-Test series kicks off with the first match at Wembley on October 25, the second at Everton’s new 53,000-seat stadium on November 1, and the third at Headingley Stadium on November 8.
