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The NRL grand final has been run and won, and as you read this ‘Glory, glory’ threatens to zoom up the charts and match South Sydney’s well-won premier status.
Emotion aside, this wasn’t the greatest decider we’ll see, but the better team triumphed and richly deserves all the accolades that accompany Souths’ 21st first-grade title.
While pleased to see the foundation’s club 43-year-drought broken, I was left with a dozen questions that could use some answers.
I realise colleague Ryan O’Connell had some highly pertinent questions in the aftermath, but I’ve got lots more head-scratchers. Feel free to help me out, Roarers.
Q: What is doing with the club’s record try-scorer, Nathan Merritt?
He retired a few weeks ago but surely he would/should have somehow been included in Souths’ victory celebrations.
I read that on grand final day Merritt was playing in a Koori tournament up north. Is this player, who scored 146 tries over 13 seasons for the red and greens, so filthy at being phased out that he left town on grand final weekend? I hope not.
Q: Was Sam Burgess awarded the Clive Churchill Medal because of his heroics with a double facial fracture?
Sure, Sam played really well, like all of the Souths, pack but for mine brother George Burgess was the standout.
Q: While on Sam B – and this is not of his doing – why wasn’t the blood bin called into play?
The Englishman was seen with plenty of claret on his face and jumper at various stages of the game. And we all thought spilt blood was a huge no-no.
Q: How much longer can our game afford Shane Hayne as the No. 1 whistle-blower in games of major importance?
It’s a very tough gig, but this guy keeps coming up with shockers.
Q: Many spectators (and the Channel Nine callers) thought there was a blatant forward pass in the lead-up to Greg Inglis’ late try. What’s doing here?
This was the grand final, the biggest game of the year. Should we all turn a blind eye and pretend everything was legit?
Q: Wasn’t that an attempted head butt from the head-geared Tim Browne midway through the second half? Or was it almost an accidental head clash?
The injured Sam Burgess couldn’t have been the target, could he?
Q: Are the Bulldogs in the market for a playmaker?
State of Origin duo Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson created pretty much zero between them in the big game. I cannot recall Canterbury making a single line break.
Q: Why wasn’t Dale Finucane sin-binned for a professional foul?
He deliberately placed his hand in the ruck as Sam Burgess was playing the ball a metre from the tryline. I would have thought that was a sin bin offence just about everywhere league is played.
Q: When will the marketing people from the NRL get it right on grand final day?
It was an insult to paying customers that Slash ‘performed’ karaoke with a CD playing over the speakers. Support band Train was also in the easy-to-forget category.
Q: And finally, where are all the Roarers who insisted with vitriol that Souths would ‘choke’ in the big pressure matches?
Correct me if I am wrong – didn’t the Rabbits score a minimum 30 points against every team they met in the finals? A very strange type of asphyxiation.
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