As WA Premier Roger Cook fronted the press in Perth, grown men were glued to television screens on the other side of the country sobbing into their schooners.
Wearing red, white and black, a large throng of long-suffering North Sydney Bears supporters cheered ARL chairman Peter V'Landys, booed Manly, and burst into spontaneous renditions of the club's anthem 'Stand Aside' at Norths Cammeray.
