The Noughties are over. Given the media coverage of player behaviour in recent years, the name is possibly apt. But football stars of all codes delivered time and again in the last ten years in the workplace, where their prowess is ultimately judged.

The following selections are my memorable moments; some will be well-known, others may have faded with time, but I’d watch these again and again.

JULY 15 2000. “HEAVEN COMES TO EARTH.”
It’s become known as the night the game they play in heaven came down to earth. In front of a world record crowd of 109,000 at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, rugby’s most fierce rivals produced an extraordinary match. New Zealand were 21-0 up inside the first 10 minutes as the notoriously late-arriving rugby crowd scrambled to their seats. The Wallabies clawed their way back to lead at half time, but a Jonah Lomu try in the last 5 minutes gave the All Blacks a 39-35 victory.

SEPTEMBER 19 2000. SUNNI GOES “BRAZILIAN” AGAINST BRAZIL
The Sydney Olympic games were a memorable 2 weeks, an absolute feast of sport, an event that rose above the doubts and misgivings to do the city proud.

The same couldn’t be said for the Olympic football teams. The mens side couldn’t muster a point in their group, home advantage counting for nothing. The women’s team, the Mathildas at least gave themselves a chance of progressing from the group stage, but needed to beat Brazil to progress. A packed SFS witnessed a game the Brazilians managed to win 2-1, but not before they went behind to a goal straight from the football dream factory. Striker Sunni Hughes received the ball with her back to goal 25 metres out. With her first touch she flicked the ball up and over her head, and the head of her marker, then swivelled as the ball dropped and hit a thunderous volley into the Brazilian net. It was a goal reminiscent of one the great Pele had scored for Brazil in a World Cup final 42 years previously, and won the World Football Goal Of The Year.

SEPTEMBER 1st 2001. COMPLETING THE TROPHY CABINET.
2001 was a wonderful year for the Wallabies. They beat the British Lions in a series for the first time, won the Tri Nations and retained the Bledisloe Cup in John Eales’ last game with a pulsating 29-26 win at the Olympic Stadium. In a match that saw Joe Roff and Michael Foley also bow out of Test rugby, the All Blacks clung to a lead deep into the second half. A George Gregan pass to Steve Larkham, then an inside flick to a charging Toutai Kefu and the Wallabies scored next to the posts in the last 90 seconds to send the man they called “Nobody” out a winner.

MAY/JUNE 2002. A TIED SERIES LEADS TO RULE CHANGES
State Of Origin; the pinnacle of rugby league excellence. New South Wales and Queensland have been waging war since the concept was trialled in 1980. It took unitl 2002 for a series to be tied, due to an 18-18 draw in the “deciding” Game 3 in Sydney.

The Blues looked to have sealed the series when Jason Moodie scored in the final minutes to give the home team an 18-14 lead. But Allan Langer, the biggest little thorn in the Blues side during his career, had one more knife to twist. he regathered the short kick-off and sent Dane Carlaw charging for the line.

The back rower went straight for the corner, possibly mindful of the fact that a draw would be enough for the Maroons to retain the trophy (I can’t quite remember what the trophy looks like but I’m sure there is one – but in this rivalry, bragging rights is enough!).

The conversion was of no consequence, the siren had sounded, and Gorden Tallis celebrated by running to a section of Blues fans who had held up a derogatory banner concerning the big man’s mum, and let fly an audible set of expletives to hammer home the win, er, I mean the draw. It led to a rule change for subsequent Origins, with the Golden Point introduced to the series in ensuing years.

JUNE 6TH 2003. THE DEFINITION OF BRAVERY.
The Kangaroos and Richmond met in this regular-season game in the middle of the AFL season, and it would have been a fairly routine clash, apart from the presence of one man.

7 months earlier, Jason McCartney had been horribly injured in the Bali bombings, receiving 2nd degree burns to over 50% of his body. His condition on returning home was assessed as so serious that any thought of playing footy again was regarded as impossible.

On that June night, McCartney proved himself quite possibly the bravest AFL player of all time. He took to the field heavily bandaged, wore special gloves to protect hands that had helped pull other victims from the flames of the Sari Club, and had the numbers “88″ and “202″ printed on his guernsey to signify the Australian and total number of victims on that terrible October night. His stats on the night were modest, but he had a vital hand in the winning goal for the Kangaroos. After the game, he announced his retirement in a live interview in front of the crowd, having achieved his aim of playing again. There was not a dry eye in the house.

OCTOBER 5TH 2003. TACKLE OF THE DECADE.
For the first time in 7 years, 2 Sydney teams contested the NRL Grand Final. On a rainy evening at the Olympic Stadium, Penrith and the Roosters were locked at 6-6 midway into the second half of a thrilling game. Roosters winger Todd Byrne made a break down the flank and was setting sail for the line.

From across the other side of the field, Penrith forward Scott Sattler ran down the theoretically-quicker Byrne and caught him in a copybook bootlace-height tackle, the two players liding into touch with only a a clear run in front of Byrne. it changed the momentum of the game, and the Panthers went on to win 18-6. Sattler’s tackle is probably THE most replayed defensive effort in modern rugby league history.

NOVEMBER 22ND 2003. “DAD’S ARMY” TAKE BILL HOME
The Rugby World Cup culminated in a nail-biting final between the Wallabies and England in 2003. The English team had been derided as too old – “Dad’s Army” – but they were mowing down the opposition under the guidance of Clive Woodward, and the trusty boot of Jonny Wilkinson.

Both teams scored a try in the first half but inevitably it was Wilkinson’s radar accuracy that gave the Englist a 14-5 lead at the break. The second half was part-slugfest, part-shootout, as Elton Flatley “did a Jonny” by steering 3 penalties between the posts. the last one in the 80th minute sent the final into extra time. The teams swapped penalty goals in extra time, but with 26 seconds left, England gained possession and from 40 metres out, Wilkinson launched a drop goal between the posts, and a dagger through the hearts of Wallabies fans. The William Webb Ellis trophy – “Bill” for short – went to the northern hemisphere for the first time.

2005-2006. THE SWANS-EAGLES RIVALRY.
The heart of AFL undoubtedly beats in Melbourne. But Australia’s first true national competition (Football purists may argue the point but the NSL was a shambles towards its end and the A-League only started in 2005) confirmed its true national status with a rivalry between teams from opposite sides of the continent. Spread over 2 years, the Sydney Swans and the West Coast Eagles engaged in 4 thrilling finals matches, including successive Grand Finals, and one Round 15 game, where the winning margin was never more than 4 points. The Swans, labelled as “boring” by AFL Chief Andrew Demetriou, were beaten by 4 points in the 2005 qualifying final in Subiaco, but bounced back to win the Grand Final at the MCG by the same margin. No-one will soon forget Leo Barry’s miraculous mark just before the final siren.

Amazingly, in 2006, the roles were reversed. The Swans won the qualifying final in Subiaco by 1 point, 85-84, but the Eagles triumphed in the Grand Final by the same margin, and in fact the same score. Statisticians across the country were salivating. Footy fans just couldn’t wait for the next instalment.

NOVEMBER 16TH 2005. “I TOLD YOU SO.”
Sadly, Johnny Warren didn’t live long enough to utter those words, but his beloved Socceroos finally broke a 32 year drought on a November night in Sydney against Uruguay, which even noted football cynic Peter Fitzsimons described as in the top 2 great Australian sporting triumphs (the Americas Cup win in 1983 being the other)

The Socceroos travelled back from Montevideo facing a 1-0 deficit from the away leg of the tie. The stage was set for the evening when, in response to a frenzied newspaper campaign and a perceived disrespect of “Advance Australia Fair” in Uruguay, most of the 82,000 crowd booed the Uruguayan national anthem so loudly it could not be heard, then belted out a thunderous rendition of the Australian anthem to bely the belief that the Olympic Stadium has no atmosphere. Whether right or wrong, it galvanised the Socceroos, who scored through Mark Bresciano in the 33rd minute to level the tie.

The crowd live, and millions more at home, then squirmed through another 90 minutes of drama before the game headed to the dreaded penalty shootout. Pessimistic Australian fans believed the Socceroos were going to find yet another way to cruelly fail to qualify for the World Cup. Enter Mark Schwarzer and John Aloisi.

Schwarzer pulled off two stunning spot kick saves. Aloisi strode nervelessly to the penalty spot for the 5th shot, knowing a success would send the Aussies to Germany. He scored, and a nation went bezerk.

JUNE 12TH 2006. WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE KAISERSLAUTERN.
Those words were written by author and radio broadcaster Tony Wilson, in reference to Australia’s first World Cup finals match since 1974. And with 6 minutes to go, against Japan in Kaiserslautern, it didn’t look good. The Socceroos were 1-0 down and the vast array of travelling supporters were seeing dreams of a cup run evaporate in the 35 degree heat. Instead, the Japanese evaporated.

In the 86th minute, super sub Tim Cahill scored Australia’s first ever finals goal. Two minutes later, he scored again, to set up their first ever finals win. Another sub, penalty hero John Aloisi scored a third in injury time to blow the roof off the Fritz Walther Stadium and spark the biggest overseas Australian party in many years.

The irony of Tony Wilson’s words? After qualifying for the knockout stages of the tournament, Kaiserslautern was where the Socceroos run cruelly ended at the hands of eventual winners Italy.

2007-2008. THE STORM-SEA EAGLES RIVALRY.
The Melbourne Storm have taken the NRL premiership by the scruff of the neck in more recent times. In 2007, they made their second successive Grand Final, and faced a Manly Sea Eagles side who had risen from the ashes of a failed merger with the North Sydney Bears and near-bankruptcy, to make the club’s first Grand Final in 10 seasons.

The Storm destroyed the Eagles, winning 34-8, the most lopsided GF result of the decade to that point. Twelve months later, the two teams faced each other again in the decider. The Storm had come close to elimination, having been the first club beaten under the MacIntyre Finals system by 8th place New Zealand Warriors, then scoring in the last minute to beat Brisbane, before dismantling Cronulla in the qualifying final. Manly stormed through their finals campaign (if you’ll excuse the pun) racking up big wins against St George and the Warriors. Despite this, and the suspension of Storm captain Cameron Smith, Melbourne were still warm favourites to retain their trophy.

Instead, the Sea Eagles buried the ghosts of the previous year with a 40-0 win, recording the biggest margin in Grand Final history, and sending Manly legend Steve Menzies out a try-scoring winner in his 349th and last game for the club.

SEPTEMBER 27TH 2008. BUDDY AND THE HAWKS’ YEAR.
The Geelong Cats were the epitomy of the dominant team in the AFL. They won the minor premiership by 12 points and faced a Hawthorn team who finished 5th in the regular season.

During the course of the season, Lance “Buddy” Franklin became the first player to kick 100 goals in a season since Tony Lockett 9 years before. Conventional wisdom dictated that if the Hawks were to topple the Cats, Buddy would need to bring those kicking boots to the MCG.

Conventional wisdom failed. Franklin only managed 2 goals but a magnificent all-round team performance from the Hawks saw them vanquish the hotly favoured Cats 18 7 115 to 11 23 89 in a Grand Final boilover.

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