By MARK CASHMAN

Sport is often about redemption and there was certainly an element of that in the way that the big northern beaches derby between Manly and Warringah played out on Saturday

On one side there was the disaffected star player moving to the big local rival and then in the derby three weeks on it all pans out just like on Friday Night Lights – and it did.

Harley Attwater called the shots and scored 19 points for the Marlins as they won the big beaches showdown 39-19 for the first time in two and a half years on the weekend.

The Marlins led 13-12 at the halftime break and in fact fell behind 19-13 not long after oranges only for the home side to rattle home with four tries in the final 30 minutes to secure a victory for the ages.

Manly coach Matt McGoldrick said Attwater was the glue that had pulled the Marlins together after a tough start to the season.

“I can’t explain how well liked and respected Harley is amongst the playing group,” McGoldrick said.

“With him there at flyhalf (and Harry Emery at scrumhalf) there is a certainty in selection that is breeding confidence.

“Harley’s got that classic A type personality, there is no bullshit about him and he’s confident and he’s dragging the guys along with him.

“His attitude to this game was just like any other – we’ll go out there and give things a good crack because we know that we are just as good as them.

“It’s great to watch and see play out.”

Attwater added: “Oh my God, that was pretty special. The Rats mean a  lot to me and still do, they are awesome blokes. And I love the Marlins.”

At fulltime he shared a hug with Warringah coach Michael Ruthven in a fine display of sportsmanship.

Attwater said it had been a tough build-up to the game for him with a real grand final feel to it.

“It is a massive weight off my shoulders,” Attwater said.

“I didn’t want to get in to them, I just wanted to play my best footy and I want  to play first grade, and that’s what it came down to.”’

McGoldrick thought that his side had in fact left three or four tries out there in the first half.

“The scoreline is what it is in the end but there were oodles of opportunities that we left on the ground in the first 40 minutes,” he said

“The win has been important for our club in that it has rewarded the first graders for the efforts that they have been putting in and everyone in the club can see what they can do under pressure.”

It must be said that the Marlins were able to bring their scrum and line out into play and make the Rats play out of their own half for much of the 80 minutes.

James Parker, who had been a reserve and third grade No.8 for much of the past two years, had a great debut at inside centre, pulling off some great tackles and carrying the ball well in contact.

“James has had a huge off season and has managed to strip some weight off and we felt this week was his time after playing some good rugby in the reserve grade side,” McGoldrick added.

“Our emphasis coming into the game was to try and stop Sam Ward’s running game which gives the Rats so much momentum.

“Well at one stage James just really jammed him rugby league style and it was great too see.”

The Manly front row headed by James Hilterbrand also did well and really put the heat on the Warringah scrum.

Warringah coach Mike Ruthven must have been rueing the two yellow cards – one to flyhalf Tom Halse and another to backrower Boyd Killingworth.

“At the end of the day we had 36 percent of the possession and we didn’t use it well,” Ruthven said.

“So it’s hard to win a game of footy with that amount of ball. The tone was set pretty much from the kick off.”

MANLY 39 (James Hilterbrand, Harry Bergelin, Dan Alley, Harley Attwater, Jed Ibbotson tries; Attwater 4 conversions, 2 pen goals) d WARRINGAH 19 (Sam Ward, Ezera Chee-am 2 tries; Tom Halse conversion, Tyson Davis conversion)

IMAGE: ADAM MCDONALD / MANLY MARLINS