Twelve months ago Blake Green did a Sam Burgess and broke his cheekbone en route to a famous grand final win.
The Wigan halfback copped a dirty shot from Warrington’s Ben Westwood – who escaped censure – which smashed his face up. He still went on to lead his team to a great Super League victory.
It was heroic stuff and pretty much repeated by Burgess in the NRL decider this year, to much greater fanfare.
But a year on from Wigan’s 30-16 win over the Wolves at Old Trafford, and Green and the Warriors were back in another Super League grand final. This time there would be no Hollywood ending, no perfect script and it was a Wigan player dishing out the dirty stuff.
Ben Flower’s two-punch pummeling of Lance Hohaia has gone global and seen the prop condemned from Ponytpool to Parramatta. If Paul Gallen is still looking for a heavyweight opponent for his next fight, he should give Flower a bell.
The act cost his side any chance of going back-to-back. Green was pretty shattered speaking to the media after the game, understandably.
It was his last game for the Lancashire club after two years there and two at Hull KR. The former Eel, Shark and Bulldog is returning to the NRL and has signed with Melbourne.
Green goes home more experienced and tougher than when he left. The 28-year old is a better player than he was in 2010 when he departed Canterbury, and should do well in the Storm’s highly structured and professional environment, just like the one at the DW Stadium.
Winning a grand final in your last game for a club would the perfect way to bow out, but it wasn’t to be.
Winning a grand final in your first season at a club is also a fantastic way to finish a debut in Super League, but fellow Aussies Matt Bowen and Eddy Pettybourne missed out as well.
Pettybourne, a former Rabbitoh and Souths junior, was hoping to cap off a big week after the Bunnies’ big success in Sydney. A Mascot Jets product, the forward had played 91 games for Souths from 2007 and 2012.
He had flown his parents over for the grand final, which was the highlight of an injury-interrupted season for him. But Pettybourne and his team weren’t able to replicate the Rabbitohs’ triumph.
It was also heartbreak for Bowen. The former Cowboys flyer has been involved in some semi-final heartbreak in the NRL over the past few years and of course went down in the 2005 grand final with North Queensland, thanks to that Benji Marshall flick pass.
It wasn’t second time lucky for him. You have to feel for Bowen, an exceptional player who is magical with the ball in his hands and still going strong.
Wigan may have been defeated by they can take heart considering they were in that game until the final 12 minutes, despite being a man down for nearly the whole game. They were courageous, dedicated and tough. They almost pulled off the upset of all upsets with 12 players.
Before the game everyone was tipping Wigan to win. According to most critics Saints didn’t have a hope in hell. But a brain snap from Flower changed things big time.
It wasn’t the ending that Wigan wanted but the Warriors will be back bigger and better next year. They have too many good players and have too good a coach not to be contenders again next year. Adding Taulima Tautai into the mix will help and this ordeal at Old Trafford will spur them on in 2015.
A grand final in 12 months’ time is probably the only way they can put the heavy disappointment of Saturday night to bed.
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
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