FURIOUS Manly prop Josh Perry has hit out at rival Michael Crocker over a story alleging he had an affair with a former teammate's girlfriend.

In a dramatic postscript to his side's 40-0 victory, Perry revealed the story had been used as motivation by the Manly players in the build up to the game. "It did fire us up. As soon as I got to training the boys told me they were right behind me," said Perry, who was alleged to have slept with the partner of former Newcastle teammate Clint Newton, part of the Melbourne team that defeated Manly in last year's decider.

Crocker is one of Newton's closest friends and was reported to have been using the alleged affair as a reason to hunt down Perry in last night's decider.

The two kept their distance from each other for the most part last night - but that did not stop the sordid story creating fireworks, with Perry claiming the fiery back-rower went missing in the game. "There was a few lies told and a few embellishments," Perry said. "I couldn't be happier. I think 40-0 says it all. I let my football do the talking. Ninety per cent of it was crap … And I couldn't give a crap what they want to say about me."

Perry's comments were tinged with venom after the publicity of the past few days, but it was hard to fault Crocker, playing his final game for the Storm before he leaves for the UK to play with Super League side Hull.

He was tremendous in the second half, and earned praise from teammates and staff after playing on after suffering rib cartilage damage during the second half.

"He's one tough bastard," Storm high performance manager Mary Toomey said.

The injury came out of a tackle by Steve Menzies, although Crocker played down its seriousness. "Beaver got me," he said. "But it was only for a few minutes."

Crocker was at a loss to explain the scoreline. "I just don't know," he said. "I don't know if anyone's put a finger on it. It definitely wasn't a Melbourne Storm performance."