Both sides had droughts to break.
Manly were going into their sixth decider after 25 years in the competition with an 0-5 record, having lost to the mighty Rabbitohs just two years before, while the Roosters may have had nine premierships on their honour roll but hadn t lifted the trophy for 35 years.
The teams finished the regular season ranked 1-2, picking up a win apiece in their head-to-head clashes, before Manly romped home in the major semi-final 32-8 with Bob Fulton bagging a double and Ray Branighan kicking six goals.
Both Manly and Easts had boosted their stocks by raiding South Sydney s roster in the preceding off-season - the Sea Eagles adding Branighan and Test prop John O Neill while the Roosters lured across Australian lock Ron Coote.
Steve Georgallis has around four decades worth of experience with rugby league.
Georgallis spent hours playing with his mates at the local park as a young boy before making his way up to the NRL playing mostly with the Eastern Suburbs Roosters and Western Suburbs Magpies.
These days he holds a colourful career in coaching having looked after the Penrith Panthers, West Tigers and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to name a few.
The newly appointed North Queensland Cowboys assistant coach talks to
Neos Kosmos about his hopes to lead Greece’s national team to victory and keeping his cool during matches.