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Five questions from the 2014 NRL grand final

6th October, 2014
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The Doggies take on the resurgent Rabbitohs in Friday night footy. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Expert
6th October, 2014
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The South Sydney Rabbitohs finally won a premiership after a 43-year drought, defeating the Canterbury Bulldogs on Sunday in the 2014 NRL grand final.

In yet another brutal display of finals football, the Bunnies are the last team standing after a long, hard season, and the club and their fans deserve to celebrate long and hard, because they truly earned the title this year.

In keeping with the format of previous weeks, below are five questions from the 2014 NRL grand final.

Did anyone file a missing persons report on Trent Hodkinson?
The Bulldogs halfback has had a wonderful season, but in the biggest game of the year he was all but invisible.

It was clear after the first 10 minutes that Hodkinson’s knee must have been causing him a lot of trouble, because Josh Reynolds did all the general kicking for the Dogs, and though he performed reasonably well in that area, it’s not the strongest part of his game. If Hodkinson isn’t kicking, he’s not doing much else, because he’s not a runner of the ball.

With the Dogs already without Michael Ennis, they couldn’t afford to be without their number 7 as well, but in hindsight, if Hodkinson was so injured perhaps it may have been better not to play him.

Which absent hooker was missed more?
Both stand-in hookers – Moses Mbye and Apisai Koroisau – did a good job after being called in to play for Ennis and Issac Luke, respectively. However, both teams would have preferred to have their first-choice rakes playing.

Before the game, I thought the Bunnies would miss their number 9 more, based on what Luke provides Souths with in attack. I knew the Dogs would miss Ennis as well, particularly defensively, however it was in attack that the Dogs really felt Ennis’ absence, and this ensured the Dogs actually missed their hooker more.

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The Dogs were often a rabble with their fifth tackle options. Several times a non-kicking player was caught with the ball, putting tremendous pressure on the team due to poor field position. Ennis’ leadership and barking of instructions from dummy-half was sorely missed, and combined with Hodkinson’s disappearing act, it meant the Dogs lacked structure, composure and direction in attack.

Against a team like Souths, that was always going to be a death sentence, and so it proved to be.

Was the score a true reflection of the contest?
Yes and no.

The 30-6 scoreline is a blowout anyway you look at it, but the game was all locked up after 50 minutes, and the grand final was still in the balance with ten minutes to go, before the Bunnies sealed the premiership in emphatic fashion, scoring three tries in the last seven minutes.

However, it was a close contest up until that point, and the end result doesn’t really do the Bulldogs and their tenacity justice. Yet, having said that, the Dogs were lucky not to be down by a lot more at halftime.

Souths completely dominated the first half and should have scored more points. Adam Reynolds’ kicking game was awful in the first 40 minutes, and a lot of Souths’ good work was undone by the halfback’s kicks, which meant that 6-0 flattered the Dogs.

So, in the end, a 30-6 scoreline probably did reflect the contest, because Souths were very good, and the Dogs were pretty poor.

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How tough were the Poms?
Sam Burgess fractured his cheekbone in the first seconds of the game, yet played on, and played so well that he won the Clive Churchill Medal.

His brother George was pretty unlucky not to win the award himself; I thought he was the best player on the paddock and made a number of damaging runs. He was absolutely fantastic.

Meanwhile, James Graham was maiming people all night, completely smashing anyone in a Souths jumper. His head is made of something very strong. Just ask David Tyrrell.

The Englishmen have added a lot to the NRL and it’s a privilege to have them playing in our competition. I’m just in awe of how tough they were on Sunday night, and how tough they’ve been all season.

What’s the ceiling for Greg Inglis?
There isn’t one. Quite simply, the sky is the limit for GI, and when his career is over, we may be talking about him as the greatest rugby league player of all time.

When you consider the Souths superstar is just 27 years of age, it’s frightening to think what he may accomplish in the game, given what he has already achieved.

Even if he starts to slow down a little after he hits 30, he could easily make the transition into the backrow and add years to his career, meaning we could be lucky enough to have eight or nine more years of GI magic to witness.

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A great player, and a class act.

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