Manly 2011 Champions | Thebigtip

The Manly Sea Eagles are 2011 NRL Telstra premiers after downing a gutsy New Zealand Warriors 24-10 on Sunday at ANZ Stadium.

Glenn Stewart’s return from suspension was the catalyst for an impressive Eagles performance with the lock forward winning the Clive Churchill medal.

Manly dominated possession forcing the Warriors to make 93 more tackles in a game played infront of more than 80 000 fans.

Brothers Glenn and Brett Stewart both spent time speaking to NRL CEO David Gallop on the podium but Glenn insists there was nothing in it.

"That was nothing, just moving on," Glenn Stewart said. "It was nothing at all."

"It's very special, probably the final chapter and everything's back to where it was and moving on and normal life's good and footy's going well so I can't complain," he said.

Coach Des Hasler was full of admiration for flying full-back Brett.

"With the couple of years he's had, with the injuries and the interruptions in his life, to bounce back and to come back and be part of a side that wins a grand final means he has really come full circle and surely you can't begrudge him that."

"At the start of the year people had a few question marks over us but we well and truly eliminated a few of those question marks," Hasler said.

"(Grand finals) don't come around often, they're very difficult to make and they're difficult to win and I'm so proud of this side, I'm so proud of the individuals that play in this side," he said.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary was respectful in defeat and refused to comment on a number of contentious calls in the game.

"I just got the feeling it was Manly's night," said Warriors coach Ivan Cleary, refusing to be drawn on several contentious calls that went against his side”.

"It was a bit of destiny for them tonight."

On half-time and with a 6-2 lead, Manly were expected to play safety first and take a lead into the break. But Glenn Stewart had other ideas and smartly kicked the ball through the defensive line to start a play down the field which would eventually break the Warriors.

Daly Cherry-Evans, Jamie Lyon and the Stewarts scored tries for the Sea Eagles while Elijah Taylor and Manu Vatuvei scored for New Zealand.