I've told this yarn on here before, one of my favorite memories of the great Cliff Lyons...
This was a Friday night game, and with my mates we'd started drinking at Seagulls footy club ($2 schooners FTW!!) then caught the free bus to Coollongatta to hit the much vaunted Hill Street Night Club..
Manly were playing Newcastle (I believe: many, many beers were consumed!) and it was an absolute arm wrestle, with scores locked at something like 2-2 or 4-4 I can't honestly remember!!
The game was brutal, defenses just rock solid and no team really looked liked getting on top....
And then with a few minutes left in the game, one C Lyons decided that he'd had enough.
He's cut back to the short side and sliced through the tiring defensive line, finding just enough room to scamper in behind the center and winger, before straightening up about 20 yards from home... Cover defense is scrambling across as Cliffy props, jinks in and away and throws a dummy: to the LINESMAN!! It was so perfect that literally NOBODY knew what happened.
The fullback clean missed Cliffy in a despairing dive at the sideline, the touch judge himself was so taken that he dropped his flag expecting the pill on his chest and his moment of glory, the camera crews and director....well they had no idea what happened...
Eventually they worked out that a try had been scored, and searched desperately for the magical man that had fooled them all...
All they caught was a glimpse of Cliff, strolling up the tunnel with a lit Winnie Blue, off to an early shower with his job done, as Manly took a famous victory...