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NRL Grand Final against the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. The Storm won the 2009 NRL premiership with a 23-16 win over the Eels. AAP Image Dean Lewins.
Jarryd Hayne’s last touch in the 2009 NRL Grand Final, a dropped ball, summed up his play throughout the match. Nothing he tried came off. His opposite number, Billy Slater, had a tremendous match, scoring a try, running the ball back strongly and injecting himself into the line to try and make something happen for his well-organised and methodical side.
Before the match I noted that only one fullback (Robbie O’Davis) had won the Clive Churchill medal for best on the field since the medal’s introduction in 1986. The suggestion was made that if Hayne or Slater won the medal, then that player would lead his side to victory.
And this is what happened. The Storm scored in the first five minutes and it seemed to me that Hayne should really have been in a position to prevent the try. But a earlier he’d been tested with a kick across the flow of play which he just defused. Perhaps he was hanging around the posts again waiting for a repeat when the try was scored out wide.
Then in the second half Hayne had waited for a towering up-and-under to be caught by one of his team-mates instead of handling it himself. Greg Inglis caught the ball unchallenged and beat Hayne with a swerve to score a try for the Storm.
Slater followed this by running off a pass from the base of the scrum, and then backing up to take another pass to clear out for the decisive try.
It seemed to be that the difference between Slater’s style of play and that of Hayne is that Slater actually creates breaks for himself with his fearless and speedy running, while Hayne tends to set up plays for his team-mates.
Hayne’s problem in the Grand Final was that the Eels outside backs didn’t seem to be putting themselves in a position to capitalise on any chances offered to them. Too much of the backplay was virtual slow-motion passing with few players being prepared to charge on to the ball.
The Storm were the better team throughout the match. They had to play against a determined opposition and a seemingly even more determined crowd. It is one of the most difficult thing in sport to defeat a committed side (and the Eels had that commitment as their fightback towards the end of the match revealed) which has the unconditional support of a vast crowd.
That the Storm could do this and win more emphatically than the 23 – 16 suggests indicates that the side and the Storm franchise deserves now to be considered with some of the great teams in the past, all those Broncos sides that won premierships with Wayne Bennett, and those great Parramatta sides with Jack Gibson as their coach.
The broadcast of the match was exemplary, especially the commentary from Peter Sterling and Phil Gould who were quick and expert on picking up aspects of interest for the viewers. But Channel 9 somewhat ruined things a bit with the inappropriate plug by Darryl Somers for his ‘Hey, Hey It’s Saturday’ revival show.
In the past there has been talk of taking the NRL Grand Final out of Sydney. The vast passionate crowd of 82,538, with its tumultuous sea of yellow flags, provided the reason why this special occasion should remain a Sydney occasion, just as the AFL Grand Final should always be a Melbourne special occasion.
The Storm and Slater might have ruined the Eels party. But at least the party was held in western suburbs of Sydney, the spiritual home of the rugby league code in Australia.