In 1975, Manly came up against the champion Easts side that had won 19 games in a row before succumbing to St George in their Semi-Final, In hindsight, the Roosters were never going to lose tow in a row, They beat Manly 28-13, and went on to smash St George 38-0 the following week in the Grand Final.

It would be the last knockout Grand Final qualifier Manly would lose.

In 1976, Manly lost the Major Semi-Final to Parramatta by 23-17. They recovered to defeat Canterbury 15-12 in the final, before beating Parramatta in the Grand Final.

It was a similar story in 1978. Manly defeated Wests 14-7 in a controversial final to make the Grand Final against Cronulla. After an 11-11 draw in the decider, Manly dominated the replay, and ran out winners 16-0.

Manly cruised through to the Grand Final in 1982 and 1983, but came unstuck against a champion Parramatta team. In 1987, they again took the short road to the decider after a tough 10-6 win over Easts, and defeated Canberra 18-8 in the Grand Final to claim their fifth premiership.

When the competition expanded in 1995, teams had to qualify for the Grand Final in the penultimate week of the season. That year, Manly defeated Newcastle to make the decider, but went down to Canterbury in a controversial Grand Final.

In 1996, Manly smashed Cronulla to qualify for the Grand Final, and out muscled St George 20-8 to claim their sixth Grand Final victory. The following year, A Craig Field field goal got Manly a win over Easts in the final, but they were ground down by Newcastle in the Grand Final, going down 22-16.

After the Northern Eagles debacle, Manly finally made it back to the top under the coaching of Des Hasler. In 2007, the Sea Eagles defeated North Queensland 28-6 to qualify for the Grand Final, but were thumped 34-8 by Melbourne when it mattered.

The following year, Manly beat the NZ Warriors 32-6 in the final before setting an all time record by beating Melbourne 40-0 in the Grand Final.

In 2011, the Sea Eagles defeated Brisbane 26-14 to advance to the decider against the Warriors. Manly won the Grand Final 24-10 to claim their eighth and to date final premiership. In 2013, Manly came from 14-0 to beat South Sydney in the final, but went down 26-18 to Sydney Roosters in the Grand Final.

So, every year since that 1975 loss, Manly have made it to the Grand Final when they have the opportunity. Manly fans, we’ve been here before. Let’s hope history can repeat this Friday.