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As well of being one of the great grand final matches, last year’s climactic clash between the Broncos and the Cowboys was one of the great golden point matches.
Every time that North Queensland and Brisbane have met in 2016 has served as a reminder of that iconic night.
With their first clash of the season going to golden point once again, their second was also decided by just a single point.
On top of that, 2016 has been a football year in which golden point has been peculiarly prevalent – both its best and worst outcomes – as well as a year in which the meaning and future of golden point has been up for grabs in a particularly concerted way.
All of which made it particularly appropriate that last night’s game at home for the Cowboys was the first taste of extra time – the new supplement to golden point in finals footy season.
Whether or not this will eventually extend to the regular season is anyone’s guess, but for the next few weeks the rules are as follows: if the game ends on a draw, there are ten more minutes of extra play, which function like a continuation of the regular game.
If, at the end of that time, the draw still holds, then the teams move into regular golden point time once again.
The possibility of a full hundred minutes of play is now on the table.
Last night’s game didn’t look like it would go to extra time. While the teams were about as equally placed as you might expect in the second week of finals football, the Cowboys were scrappier than usual, especially for a game at home.
In the first ten minutes alone, a clumsy high tackle on Adam Blair from Jason Taumalolo, a rare misguided torpedo bomb from Johnathan Thurston, and an inexplicable forward pass from Lachlan Coote, suggested an unusually unsettled North Queensland side.
While the Cows regained a bit of momentum over the first stanza, the halftime siren sounded on what looked to be Brisbane’s game, with Coote failing to secure the ball in time to prevent Jordan Kahu landing a soft converted try.
After returning from the sheds, North Queensland looked to regain a bit of momentum with tries from Justin O’Neill at the 57th and 62nd minute.
Then, a long-range breakout try from Corey Oates at the 69th minute seemed to seal the deal in Brisbane’s favour.
It was only a penalty goal from JT at the 79th minute that levelled the scores. Extra time was suddenly inevitable.
On the one hand, there was the same sense of déjà vu we’ve experienced all season with these teams. The sense that the Broncos are destined to relive and remember last year’s crushing loss until they’ve managed to replicate it on their own terms.
Yet the fact that this was extra time rather than golden point added a completely new intensity as well.
For my part, I’ve never experienced a more suspenseful ten minutes of football than what transpired following Thurston’s kick.
Even when my own team has been playing, I’ve never felt compelled to leave the room as often, or to turn off the television, or to shut down social media.
In some ways, it almost made it more suspenseful that the Cows’ advantage came with one of JT’s greatest moments of inspiration ever – a flick pass to Michael Morgan that saw the wily five-eighth land a four-pointer over the line at the 85th minute, which Thurston then deftly converted.
So brilliant and beautiful was the execution – such a stunning vision of halves in action – that it was almost unthinkable that the Broncs had another five whole minutes to turn the tide.
Instead of the cathartic and climactic relief you get from a golden point – let alone a golden try – the suspense was ratcheted up again as the ball changed possession several times in the final three minutes and every single player struggled to beat the clock.
If football is all about suspense – the suspense of bodies in motion, of the Steeden making its way down the line, of the high ball that can land anywhere – then I’ve never seen a greater game of football.
The NRL have replaced the vagaries of golden point with an innovation that makes victory feel even more precious, precarious, and hard won.
Of course, it makes defeat all the more crushing as well, and Corey Parker couldn’t keep the dejection from his face in the post-match interview, despite having an entire career to celebrate.
On the flipside, however, the Cows – and Thurston, in particular – came away with an achievement whose greatness arguably rivals that of last year’s grand final.
For my money, there’s no other player who could have dealt with the pressure and novelty of a new extra time format like Thurstson, which is why it felt so appropriate and so poetic that the game finally went his way.
If NRL is a study in suspense, then JT is the ultimate example of grace under pressure.
Even his agitation at the beginning of the game was subsumed, by the end, into the extreme mastery, vision and strategic brilliance of a rugby league Immortal.
There’s something about seeing a footy player rise above and play through that kind of tension that comes close to the sublime.
Here’s hoping that extra time stays on the cards and continues to offer these kinds of opportunities to see the best players of the game at their very best.
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