Manly tragics beg haters not to will win offshore

FOR Australian sports lovers, any defeat at the hands of New Zealanders is hard to take

FOR Australian sports lovers, any defeat at the hands of New Zealanders is hard to take.

But when home side Manly takes on the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL grand final in Sydney tomorrow night, the traditional trans-Tasman rivalry will be turned on its head.

Most Australian league fans will be cheering for the New Zealand team and the huge groundswell of Australian support for the Kiwis this week has stunned long-term supporters like celebrated novelist Thomas Keneally.

"It's one thing for Aussies to go for other Sydney teams or Queensland teams when they play Manly. But do people really want this thing (the NRL premiership) to go offshore?" asked Keneally, who spent yesterday afternoon with former club greats at a pre-grand final get-together at Manly Leagues Club.

"Can you imagine a rugby union or rugby league crowd in New Zealand ever cheering for an Australian side over one of their own? They just wouldn't do it.

"In fact, I reckon the Kiwis will be laughing at an Aussie crowd cheering for New Zealand. They will think we are dickheads!"

The majority of the sell-out crowd of 83,500 -- that is, anyone who is not a Manly Sea Eagles fan -- is expected to be cheering for the Kiwis.

It won't be anything new for Manly. The northern beaches-based club has been despised by most rugby league supporters ever since the 1970s, when the then wealthy Manly plundered the best players from the cash-strapped Western Suburbs club, leading to the famous -- if long outdated -- "Silvertails" versus "Fibros" rivalry.

Keneally said he was confident Manly, which would go into the season decider as a strong favourite, would win -- a view shared by the club's first premiership-winning captain, Freddy Jones.

The 70-year-old, who captained the club to back-to-back titles in 1972 and 1973, said despite the fuss surrounding the grand final, the team that best contained its nerves usually won.

"It's still just a game of footy. You still tackle the same, you still run the same," Jones said. "I was always calm before the grand final, but I'd shake like a leaf for an hour afterwards from all the adrenalin."

Keneally and Jones might be one-eyed Manly men, but other more impartial observers are also tipping a Sea Eagles premiership victory.

Julia Gillard is tipping Manly to win, as is Tony Abbott (although he is the local federal member) and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell.

However, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh -- who is perhaps still smarting from the Brisbane Broncos' loss last weekend at the hands of Manly -- favours New Zealand to win.