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The rugby league grand final is something we all look forward to with great anticipation. We talk about it and read about it virtually all week leading up to the game. We plan barbecues, invite mates and buy beer.
Even people who don’t watch footy watch the grand final.
Although the great majority of us have a team that started their end-of-season holiday weeks previously, we still want to know who will be the champion.
The problem is that often the last game of the year turns out to be a one-sided dud. Of the 49 deciders that have been played in my lifetime (including two replays and the two grand finals in 1997) the average winning margin has been 12 points. That doesn’t seem too bad until you realise that 40 per cent were won by 13-plus margins.
Then there is the other end of the spectrum: the score might be close but the footy was dour and hardly enthralling. The 1984-85-86 Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs, for example, had the capacity for some amazing attacking footy and were dubbed ‘The Entertainers’.
However, while the three consecutive grand finals they made in that period may have had a combined winning margin of just five points, they were total snore fests for anyone who didn’t support the sides. When tries were actually scored they weren’t exactly screamers. In 1984 Steve Folkes took advantage of the hole left in the Eels’ line due to Ray Price being down injured to score a solo try that proved the difference.
In the NRL era the ratio of blowouts is getting worse. Just under 50 per cent of the games have been won by 13-plus margins.
Last Sunday’s grand final thankfully was a cracker. It featured two of the year’s most consistent sides both going hard to win. It has had many people, including myself, speculating as to whether it was the greatest grand final of all time.
After good consideration I’ve come to the conclusion that, while the actual ending this year was the most exciting one that I’ve ever witnessed, the 1989 grand final is still the best overall.
Why?
Well let’s look at what they had in common:
• They are the only grand finals to go into extra-time.
• They both featured tries to tie up the scores at the very end of regular time.
• The victories were the first ever premierships for their teams.
• Both teams came from regional areas.
• Both teams were captained by Queensland and Australian representative legends.
• Both scored three tries and conceded two.
• Both sides were trailing at half-time.
• Both were up against awesome sides that played great football on the day and had also finished in the top four.
• Both had star players make crucial errors that led to the opposition scoring vital field goals.
What this year’s grand final had that 1989 didn’t:
• Both sides went in as equal favourites. In 1989 the Tigers were raging favourites.
• All the tries were great. Of the five tries scored only the Jack Reed try wasn’t superb, but it was still very good. The James Grant try for the Tigers in 1989 came from a dreadful pass from Brent Todd, was against the run of play and was nothing special.
What the 1989 decider had that this year’s didn’t:
•Speed.
Whereas Ben Hunt was happy to constantly kick for touch to slow the play down – especially in the second 40 minutes, the Tigers and Raiders went at each other from the word go. Mal Meninga would later comment that it was the fastest club game he’d ever played in.
After Gary Belcher scored in the 56th minute to get the score back to 14-8 the ball stayed in play – no scrums, no time offs – for six consecutive sets of break neck speed. No quarter was asked and none was given.
• Constant drama.
For all of the sensation of the last-second Kyle Feldt try, the second half to that point had only featured two points from the boot of Jordan Kahu and, with the exception of Kane Linnett dropping the Johnathan Thurston pass with the line open, there really weren’t that many close calls.
The 1989 decider had:
o The Brent Todd pass/James Grant try.
o The Mick Neil ankle tap.
o The Meninga charge down.
o Benny Elias hitting the cross bar.
o Wayne Pearce dropping the ball with the line wide open.
o Dean Lance smashing Steve Roach.
o The bizarre replacement of Roach.
o Brasher inexplicably jumping to touch the missed penalty attempt and conceding a drop out.
o The amazing Andy Currier/Paul Sironen try,
o The Steve Jackson twisting, tackle breaking run for the try, and of course
o The John ‘Chicka’ Ferguson try with 90 seconds to go.
For me this will forever be the highlight. Chicka could’ve gone for the corner to score but chose instead to go for the posts. In scoring the try he beat Pearce, Neil, Elias and Sironen.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck averaged 6.5 tackle breaks a game this year. Chicka must have made 20 that day and three of them were in scoring that try. While there is no question that Michael Morgan’s offload to Feldt was glorious, the drama and quality of that Ferguson try may never be equalled.
But I’ll let the last words on which decider was best go to the man who wore the lime green number nine that day in 1989, Steve Walters.
“I don’t know if the 1989 grand final is the best ever and I don’t know if this year’s is either. People remember the game most favourably if their team won.”
I guess it really is all subjective.
Let’s not rush to immortalise lest it lose its meaning
“He’s an immortal!” the commentator screamed as Thurston kicked the match-winning field goal.
Anyone who has read my articles will know that I believe Thurston to be hands down the best player in the game. However, if the prestige of being made an Immortal is to continue to mean anything, the decision to include someone in that prestigious club must be made with a cool head.
In my opinion no player should be able to be inducted into that group until after they have been retired for over 10 years. Otherwise we risk making kneejerk decisions that could end up eroding the status of the award.
Do I think Thurston is of the calibre to be included? Hell yes. The bloke is a superstar. However, there are a few others that also would be excellent inclusions to that club as well, and we would do well not to forget them. Here are the ones I reckon would be right at home.
Mal Meninga
He played 32 games for Queensland and 42 for Australia. Meninga captained Australia for 23 Test matches between 1990 and 1994, and captained the Queensland State of Origin team for three years from 1992 to 1994. He is the only player to captain a Kangaroos tour on two occasions (1990 and 1994).
Meninga is the only player to make four Kangaroo Tours as a player (1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994). He won three premierships with the Canberra Raiders and is the most successful State of Origin coach ever.
Terry Lamb
Lamb played 350 first grade games and represented NSW and Australia. He won the 1983 Dally M Player of the Year and the 1984 Rothmans Medal. He was three times winner of the Dally M Players’ Player of the Year (1984, 1986, 1995), seven times Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year (1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993). Lamb holds the record of 18 Dally M Awards, and won premierships in 1984, 1988 and 1995.
Glenn Lazarus
‘The Brick with Eyes’ played 254 first-grade games and was the first player in the history of the game to win premierships with three different clubs: the Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, whom he captained. Lazarus was named Players’ Player for two consecutive Kangaroo Tours, 1990 and 1994, and he played 22 games each for NSW and Australia.
Brad Fittler
Freddy played 336 first grade games for Penrith and the Roosters. He won premierships with both. He played 31 games for NSW and 40 for Australia and captained both sides. Fittler won the Rothmans Medal in 1997.
Allan Langer
Alf played 258 games for the Brisbane Broncos, winning four premierships. He played 37 games for Queensland and 25 for Australia. He won the Rothmans Medal in 1992 and the Clive Churchill Medal. Langer captained Australia in 1998 and led the Broncos to the premiership.
Peter Sterling
Sterlo played 227 games for the Parramatta Eels until 1992. He won four premierships with the Eels in that time. He also played 13 games for NSW and 18 for Australia. He won the Clive Churchill Medal in 1986, and the Rothmans medal in 1987 and 1990.
Other awards include: Dally M Halfback of the Year in 1984, 1986, 1987; Rugby League Week Player of the Year in 1984, 1986, 1987; Dally M Player of the Year 1986, 1987; and the 1987 Golden Boot.
Who do you reckon I’ve missed?