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The 2013 NRL season came to a climax on Sunday, with the Sydney Roosters defeating the Manly Sea Eagles, and thus being crowned the season’s premiers.
Grand finals always generate discussion, and this year’s finale was no different, with plenty of talking points coming out of rugby league’s decider, of which we dissect the big five.
Best grand final ever?
It’s an arbitrary opinion, but I think Sunday’s game was the greatest NRL grand final in history.
Though many believe the 1999 match between the Melbourne Storm and the St George Illawara Dragons to be the high point for NRL grand finals, I think the Roosters and the Sea Eagles eclipsed it on the weekend.
The game had absolutely everything fans could hope for in the season apex: high quality play, drama, points, subplots, a close game, tension, controversy, heroes, villains, amazing tries, and even a little bit of a violence.
It was fitting finale for a wonderful season.
Though there have been dramas and controversies all year – and the grand final was no different – Sunday’s match was the perfect exclamation point to a fantastic NRL season.
The Clive Churchill Medal
High on the list of pub debates following the game was Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans being awarded the Clive Churchill Medal.
Personally, I feel that if you’re nominated as the best player on the field when your side loses, you must have played a truly remarkable game, if not delivered a performance for the ages.
Cherry-Evans was very good on Sunday, but was he transcendent? Absolutely not. If he was that good, his team would have won.
A few people have suggested that Cherry-Evans won the Clive Churchill Medal due to his impressive form during the finals series.
It’s a noble gesture and thought, but unfortunately, that’s not the criteria for the award.
The honour is meant to go to the man-of-the-match in the grand final, and I have a hard time reconciling the fact that the manly number 7 was truly worthy of that accolade.
Having said that, it probably rates about a three on my care-o-meter.
Cherry-Evans would have preferred to win the premiership, and I’m sure the Roosters couldn’t care less, so let’s all jog along.
The referees
In the lead-up to the game, I stated that due to the fact I have no affinity for either team, it would enable me to watch the game objectively and simply enjoy the football, rather than being emotionally invested in the result.
In hindsight, this was definitely a good thing, because I’m not sure how I would have reacted to some of the refereeing decisions had I been a fan of one of the clubs playing in Sunday’s game.
Considering the drama that has surrounded the 2013 NRL finals series, the grand final was at short odds to be exempt from issues involving the referees.
It was therefore no real surprise that Sunday’s match contained controversy involving the match officials, and therefore we annoyingly have to address it.
I had no real issue with Jamie Lyon being awarded a penalty try.
The Roosters gained a clear advantage via illegal play, and considering the circumstances, deserved to be harshly penalised. However, could the referees unequivocally state that Lyon would have scored a try, but for the tackle of Roosters forward Mitch Aubusson? I’m not so sure.
Thankfully, it didn’t cost the Roosters the game, but if Manly had ended up winning, I can only imagine the uproar the NRL would be facing this week.
In fact, later in the game, the referees missed David Williams holding Michael Jennings back in much the same fashion as Jamie Lyon was impeded, yet there was no penalty – let alone a penalty try – given.
Unfortunately, the penalty try wasn’t the only questionable decision by the match officials.
James Maloney’s pass to Anthony Minichello – which resulted in a match-changing try – was so far forward that you could be excused for asking if the Roosters five-eighth was auditioning for a quarterback role in the NFL. It was a horrible no-call at the time, and was only made worse after viewing the replays.
Drama involving match officials is certainly not unique to rugby league, however the NRL has a lot of work to do in the off-season to ensure the headlines next year are not dominated by the referees.
Far too many errors were made this season, which left players, coaches and fans frustrated, angry and disillusioned.
The standard of refereeing is simply not good enough.
Sonny Bill Williams
I have no idea where Sonny Bill Williams is going to play next year. If I were a betting man, I would wager that he will be back in rugby union and donning a Chiefs jersey in 2014.
In many respects, Sunday’s result may have been the worst possible outcome for the Roosters and the NRL in their ambition to keep SBW in the code.
With a premiership and a dominant second half performance, Williams completed a remarkable season and may now consider his rugby league return as ‘mission accomplished’.
The NRL’s best chance of keeping Williams may have been if he considered his rugby league return as unfinished business.
At halftime, such a sentiment was certainly on the cards, with the Roosters staring down a grand final defeat, and Williams well below his best.
It appeared as though Sonny Bill’s dream season was going to have a nightmare ending.
Yet with the Chooks winning the title, and Williams contributing heavily to the result, the dual international will probably feel as though he has ‘ticked that box’ and can move on to his next challenge: cementing a spot in the mighty All Blacks starting fifteen.
If Sunday was indeed Williams’ last game in the NRL, then he leaves the code with an amazing legacy, and he will be sorely missed. I personally think he’s the best player in the competition and marvel at his talent and ability.
The word ‘superstar’ is bandied about too much in sport, but the tag is more than apt when talking about Sonny Bill Williams.
The Roosters
No, I’m not going to dedicate a talking point to poor old David Williams. I’ll allow Roarers to savage the Wolfman instead.
I’d like to give full credit to the Sydney Roosters for a tremendous season. The Chooks were the best team all year, and capped it off by deservingly being crowned the premiers.
The minor premiership rewarded their consistent brilliance during the year, and their sensational last four weeks of football earned them the real prize: the Provan-Summons Trophy.
No one can begrudge the Roosters for all they accomplished this year, and kudos to the club’s players, coaching staff, management and fans.