Manly–Melbourne NRL rivalry

Two of Manly's standout performers on the day were Winger Michael Robertson, who equaled the Grand Final record by scoring three tries, and Clive Churchill Medal winner, Prop-forward Brent Kite.

Melbourne then claimed its first victory over Manly since 2009 in Round 1, 2011 in a match in which they could compete for premiership points for the first time since that year,[17] before Manly won a close, but brutal and violent match later in the season, known as the "Battle of Brookvale", where a minor scuffle erupted between Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair, resulting in both players being sin-binned (and later sent off) after joining in a scuffle between Darcy Lussick and Ryan Hinchcliffe.

[18] This was the first match attended by David Gallop of either side since suspending Brett Stewart from the first four weeks of the 2009 season for a sexual assault charge for which he would later be exonerated, and since stripping the Storm of two premiership titles and three minor premiership titles for salary cap breaches; extra security was hired for his presence at the game.

[20] At the conclusion of the season, Melbourne and Manly finished as the top two teams on the premiership ladder for the third time in five years.

[21] The two teams met twice in 2012, with Melbourne winning both times; first at Brookvale Oval in Round 15 by 26–22,[22] followed by a 40–12 victory in the preliminary final at AAMI Park en route to their second valid premiership and first since the salary cap breaches.

[28] In 2016, the sides met in round 24 where Melbourne won 38–18, claiming the minor premiership in the process, whilst Manly missed the finals for the second consecutive season.

While Manly won the match by 24–4 against a Melbourne side missing suspended captain Cameron Smith, the match was perhaps best remembered for a series of on-field incidents including four sin-binnings (Jake Trbojevic, Dylan Walker, Apisai Koroisau and Josh Addo-Carr) and the first send-off since 2015 courtesy of Curtis Scott throwing punches at Walker during a brawl reminiscent of the one between the two sides almost seven years prior.

More drama occurred when Koroisau returned to the field one minute and 41 seconds earlier than he should've, presumably due to a timekeeping error.