Manly have had some fine half backs that I can recall
Frank Stanton: In his day before Fulton he was the Manly star and played brilliantly at half and centre.
Dennis Ward: Helped Manly to their first premiership. Under rated. Quick, nimble, tough
John Mayes: Helped Manly to their second premiership. A complete competitor. Solid in attack and defence
Kevin Junee: Manly and Easts did the switcharoo with Mayes returned to Easts and Junee leaving Easts for Manly. Quicker and more exciting than Mays but not as solid and reliable.
Gary Stevens: One of Manly's many Poms during this period. Solid, reliable fairly quick. Needed to get us premiership 1976
John Gibbs: Quicksilver. Could score tries almost a will. Not a great defender but in attack, he and Blake stand out as Manly's finest
Steve Martin: Manly probably needed him in their remarkable finals fight for the crown in '78 grand final win. They needed someone solid, tough, reliable, never say die, and with Gibbs injured, Martin, who usually played 5/8 in those early years was just the man they needed at half during the finals.
Alan Thompson: Very clever ball player second only to Cliff Lyons for creating chances. Not fast, good defender, but he had a wicked pass.
Phil Blake: The Wizard who learned his kicking skills playing Aussie Rules as a kid. Lightning quick, shaky in defence but along with Gibbs, the best attacking half Manly has had.
Geoff Toovey: I remember the day this blond ball boy sized half played against the English test side in a lead up match to the tests. Could not believe how he kept putting down forward after forward, who made the mistake of running at him. In those days he also was quick and had good attacking skills. I know he didn't have much of a kicking game, but for all round effectiveness, he was in my opinion Manly's best half. Moved to hooker, when he was slowing down
Des Hasler: Jack in the box. Had remarkable athleticism. Mainly played 5/8 but filled in just as competently at lock and half. I was reminded a little of Manly 5/8 during the late 60s early 70s in Ian Martin. Tough no nonsense player, perpetual motion, not very fast, but always backing up and defended like Toovey. One of our best all round players
DCE: Potentially our best half but not yet. Has most of the skills. Not a great ball player, but has individual attacking brilliance, a great kicking game (when he's on song), very strong defender (but probably not as damaging as Toovey and Hasler as defenders).
They were the standouts in my mind but I never saw Ken Arthurson, who was apparently quite clever before his serious injury. But other notables were Ed Whiley (OK), Mike Eden (great goal kicker), Bob Hardie (could'a been), Mitchell Cox (a disappointment), Craig Field (a bigger disappointment), Michael Witt (OK), Ben Walker (good player), Michael Monaghan (good player).