KEY POINTS:
Thanks Manly. Hail the mighty Sea Eagles. The Aussies helped us out. Des Hasler, you beauty. You've seen all these catchlines to herald the news that Steve Matai has been cleared for the Kiwis at the World Cup despite an excruciating shoulder injury.
Yeah right. Because after years of Kiwi whingeing about underhand Aussie league tactics in the test match arena, a piece of Manly munificence has slipped by with barely an acknowledgment.
If you'd listened to the typical Kiwi paranoia down the years, the Aussies ruined our test chances year after year by using their judiciary and medicos as weapons of mass destruction.
Of course the Aussies are fully capable of the odd stunt, if Ricky Stuart's decision to grab Anthony Tupou out of the Tongan World Cup side is anything to go by. Onya Ricky.
But the major reason why the Kiwis kept getting hurt in the suspension department was that we've produced too many thugs - sorry, I mean players whose tackles slip upwards to the head.
Not only that. Our test side has often reflected an administration that couldn't hold elections without blokes pulling second-rate rorts that were as subtle as a Mark Geyer punchline. The Kiwis have long been the architects of their own downfall.
You can just imagine another outcry having erupted, though, if Manly had pulled out the stops to get Matai out of the World Cup, a controversy that would have put the tournament's reputation further on the skids.
Yet the NRL champions would have been within their rights to yank, cajole, sneak, kidnap or bribe the booming centre out of the tournament. Plenty of other clubs probably would have, given the state of his injury.
I reckon Manly are mad for not doing so, and Matai might be in the same category for playing.
Because this tournament is only one more player swap controversy away from rating as a shambles that will see Australia crowned as champions for the umpteenth time.
Why the overwhelming favourites should have a free hand to raid the final cup squads of league nations who can barely rub a couple of mouthguards together is just one of many mysteries in a sport with a chip on its shoulder and not enough on its circuit board.
The more league rams the centenary celebrations down everyone's throat, the more you choke on the stuff, realising that the modern-day administrators can't hold a candle to those extraordinary characters who set up the game.
And this tinpot tournament is hardly one in which it is worth endangering the future of a young star who is almost irreplaceable to Manly under the salary cap regime.
Yet Matai's determination to play and Manly's acceptance that he takes part has restored a touch of the credibility that went down the plug hole when Australia hijacked Tupou, whose crocodile tears' apology to his spurned teammates would have been better poured down the same drain.
Needles have got Matai through the final weeks of the season and from what I understand, he needed two on the weekend of Manly's staggering grand final victory over Melbourne in Sydney.
An operation is still imminent and it's difficult to find a precise report on what is wrong with the Aucklander's shoulder and neck. But whatever it is, it ain't good.
The Kamikaze Kid has blasted his way into league's top drawer this year but Manly couldn't have been blamed if they'd slammed it shut when it came to this springtime World Cup.
There must be real risk to his future. Shoulders are notoriously unstable - they were never designed for anything like the impact that footballers put them under.
Matai, though, is vital, and just the player the Kiwis need to challenge Aussie, or even get to the final. His attack has improved out of sight and this tasselled terminator regards running out of the line to put hits on opponents as meat and drink rather than icing on the cake.
He probably misses as many as he nails, but opponents are always on the lookout and Matai has a fiery game that is needed in tests to deck opponents and lift teammates.
But if the Kiwis do win the cup, I'd be surprised if Matai is able to lift it. He's spent as much time writhing on the ground like a thirsty man in a desert as he has busting opponents in the final weeks of the NRL.
Yes, his Manly trainers do have something a little stronger than water on hand - but it's only a matter of time before this dubious magic wears off. The sort of pain that Matai suffers without the needle is nature's warning signal. Let's hope he and his club don't suffer lasting damage. So hail Manly.
And hail Steve Matai. By refusing to be broken, he's helped put the tournament back together.
