It used to be so simple for rugby league fans.
You supported your team and the team that was playing Manly.
Until now.
For the first time ever in Sydney, the Sea Eagles will enjoy the support of neutrals when they go into battle with the now despised Melbourne Storm on grand final day.
If there is anything less palatable to league fans than Manly holding up the premiership trophy, it's the Storm doing another lap of honour.
Melbourne is about as popular as land tax in the Harbour City.
Craig Bellamy might be NSW coach but you'd rather have a beer with Kyle Sandilands than sink a few with the sour-mouthed Melbourne boss.
As for CEO Brian Waldron, he makes Amy Winehouse look well adjusted.
While league fans have a grudging admiration for Melbourne's on-field skill and power, its constant bleatings and 'world's against us' paranoia have worn thin.
The Storm introduced the grapple tackle to rugby league and were the best at it for years.
Some of their matches resembled a Texan rodeo.
The NRL was slow to clamp down on the practice so other clubs began employing wrestling coaches to keep up with the benchmark team.
In many respects, Cameron Smith paid for the sins of the past.
Any hope Melbourne had of garnering some support up north went out the door following its win over Cronulla.
In a press conference that was more Donahue than NRL, Bellamy's poorly-constructed rant over the Smith decision shot down everyone from the NRL judiciary to the media to the guy who sells Big Leagues outside the ground.
'Wally' Waldron then entered the fray with his two cents' worth (later upgraded to 50 grand by the NRL) in a spray so misguided it required a white stick and Labrador.
It was the last straw for many.
The Storm are on the nose big time and, as much as it hurts, we would rather see Manly win on Sunday night.
The Sea Eagles are impossible to hate these days.
Gone are Hoppa, Tooves and Tezza – players who were harder to stomach than a Leichhardt Oval hotdog.
In their place are cleanskins like the Stewart brothers, the likeable Wolfman, the quietly-spoken, God-fearing Brent Kite and pig shooter Jamie Lyon.
And then there is the departing Beaver.
The player the NRL wishes they could clone 300 times over.
So squeaky clean his teammates call him Ajax.
Ask yourself the following: At 7pm Sunday who do you want to see with the trophy lifted above their head?
Steve Menzies or Michael Crocker?
Thought so.