Manly script movie for wild 88-year first

Down and out after four rounds, Manly's recovery from a winless opening month to Friday night's preliminary-final against South Sydney has already defied rugby league logic.

But what hasn't been explored is how rare the achievement of Des Hasler's men is.

And the veteran mentor doesn't even have an awkwardly placed Kangaroos tour to thank for it.

Only once before in the history of rugby league in Australia has a team come back from a 0-4 start.

That honour belongs to Newtown in 1933, in one of rugby league's most unique seasons.

A year so bizarre that at one stage the league organised a hybrid match with Aussie Rules amid merger talks between the two codes.

After four rounds, Newtown found themselves dead last without a win to their name.

A week later the game's best players jumped on boat for a Kangaroos tour of England, decimating Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs and South Sydney who all finished top three the previous year.

Wests barely won another game, dropping from second to wooden spooners.

Newtown, meanwhile, did the reverse, farewelling just one player to the tour in hooker Arthur Folwell and came from nowhere to claim the title.

"The planets aligned for them obviously with the Kangaroo tour taking place," rugby league historian Terry Williams told AAP.

"They were pretty much (the least impacted). Even (perennial battlers) University had one selected, it's a sad story, Ray Morris died on the way over.

"But also in terms of injury and what they (Newtown) were able to achieve blending together.

"The thing is with Newtown it's not really a star-studded team.

"The guys that win the premiership aren't guys who go on and dominate for years and years after. Certainly not at Newtown."

The 1933 title is one of the last few that was decided without the game's best players.

Four seasons later when the Kangaroos next toured, the premiership was reduced to eight rounds and title decided before they left.

"I don't know if the authorities went, hang on these burglars have stolen the trophy. We're not going to allow that again," Williams quipped.

Williams, who has written three books on Newtown's history, insists the 1933 title does not deserve an asterisk.

The 1908, 1911, 1929, 1948 and 1952 seasons all had similar circumstances with representative players.

Regardless, it shows just how unique Manly's achievement will be if they can pull it off.

In total, 126 teams in the game's history have suffered a horror 0-4 start to the year.

Almost half of them have struggled all year long, with 55 of those sides turning into eventual wooden spooners.

Just 10 have made the finals, with Manly the sixth of those teams to advance through to a grand-final qualifier.

And Newtown's 1933 effort aside, only St George in 1930 have done enough to fight back and make a grand final.

Which is why no matter how much Manly have grown sick of being asked about their horror opening month of the season, it's worth reflecting on.

At 0-4, the biggest battle the Sea Eagles looked like having this year was avoiding their first wooden spoon and finishing above Canterbury or North Queensland.

They scored just 34 points in the first four rounds and let in 156, both the worst ever for the club.

So rough was their opening month it took 350 minutes of football for them to finally take the lead in a match.

Since then they have dropped just five games, outscoring opponents 764-382 and posting scores of 40 or more 10 times.

Part of that has no doubt been on the back of Tom Trbojevic's return for one of the greatest individual seasons of all time.

But several others have set high marks with Reuben Garrick breaking the points-scoring records and Jason Saab rivalling Trbojevic for the club's try-scoring feats.

The likes of Josh Schuster and Haumole Olakau'atu have also emerged as genuine threats, with the latter another to miss the opening parts of the year.

Which no doubt is why Paseka believes Manly's season is a tale worth telling.

"I'm not sick of (being asked about) it," Paseka admitted.

"It's cool to think where we've come from. We were just talking about it (Sunday), imagine if we won the grand final.

"There should be like a movie or documentary on us.

"You look at the season and everything we've gone through, if we won it.

"It would be a mad documentary."

Australian Associated Press