Even Luke Lewis admits he was lucky to walk off ANZ Stadium with the Clive Churchill Medal around his neck on Sunday.
All the wash-up from the NRL grand final:
» LORD: Gallen leads Sharks into history books
» PRICHARD: 13 extra seconds, but the Sharks did it
» Five talking points
» Ten best tweets from the match
» Sharks player ratings
» Storm player ratings
» Match report: Sharks’ wait over
» Re-live the match with our live blog
The veteran back-rower was a controversial selection for best on ground in Cronulla’s 14-12 drought-breaking NRL grand final win over Melbourne, beating out match-winner Andrew Fifita.
Fifita turned in a game-changing performance – running for a mammoth 191 metres, making 11 tackle busts and 30 tackles.
That’s as well as scoring the match-winning try in the 69th minute in which he carried five defenders over the line.
While Lewis was dynamic and proved a constant threat on the right edge, ran for 140 metres, made 26 tackles in an 80-minute effort and went within inches of scoring at try, only to be denied by a desperate Blake Green tackle, Fifita was roundly considered to be the standout.
“When they read my name out I felt like crying,” Lewis said.
“I pinched myself and thought ‘Is this really happening?’ The first thing I thought about is I’m the person lucky enough to go up and get this medal.
“The 17 guys should be walking up there with me. I know you can’t do that but if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Lewis was arguably the most controversial Clive Churchill selection since Daly Cherry-Evans, who was awarded the prized medal in a losing side in the 2013 decider.
The grand final win provided Lewis with his second premiership ring, after he also helped the Panthers to the 2003 title as a spiky-haired 20-year-old winger.
After being a part of breaking Cronulla’s 50-year premiership drought, coach Shane Flanagan lauded Lewis as one of the key pieces of their title-winning puzzle.
Flanagan said the decision to lure Lewis from Penrith four years ago helped turn around the culture of the club.
“I had a philosophy when I started coaching, the only rep player we had was Gal,” Flanagan said.
“He was making 200 metres every week and we needed to change that.
“I needed to get some rep players in the club and Luke Lewis was one guy I wanted.”
The Barry
Roar Guru
No, it's not. The Churchill medal is specifically for the best player in the grand final, not the best player for a career, the season or any other period of time. I thought Fifita was the best player but don't begrudge Lewis the medal. He was very, very good also.
bigJ
Guest
Lewis earnt that CC medal, those sort of things are earnt over a career not just one, game, sure Fifta score and wining, but over the course of the year he has gotten into to much trouble where Lewis has kept a professional line. This would of come into play over the decision, it would look bad for the NRL to give it to anybody that has caused problems during the year. Congrats to him and the Sharks, well deserved, chuck your porch light out now.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Agree Pomoz.... There were a dozen Sharks who could've got the CC on Sunday night. It was an incredibly hard choice after an epic Grand Final.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Match winning tries Fifita 1 Lewis 0! Good one Albo, put a statistic in which 1-0 is the only result. Lewis didn't have a good game, he was excellent. Why do we need to tear down Lewis, who was brilliant when it mattered, to acknowledge Fifita was also brilliant and would have been a worthy winner of MOM? Lewis deserves better than that.
Albo
Guest
Lewis had a very good game as usual. He was up there with the likes Maloney, Prior, Ennis, Smith, Chambers & Harris for mine. But this was obviously a politically correct nomination to avoid awarding the medal to Fifita who was miles ahead of the rest in most minds. Take for example a few KPI's on which these things are judged : Running metres - Fifita 201 / Lewis 149 , Tackle busts - Fifita 12 / Lewis 2 , Tackles - Fifita 35 / Lewis 28 , Match winning tries - Fifita 1 / Lewis 0.
Hoy
Roar Guru
I actually thought Prior was better than Fafita... for longer. Sure Fafita scored the try, but Prior was doing hard yards all game, and doing them well... but then he isn't one of the big names...
PB
Guest
Simple answer is Daley and his bizzare selections. LL is a big game player who runs beautiful lines with awesome timing with defence to back it up. IMHO he still had it over Jackson and Cordner and most certainly Bird.
harambe
Guest
Well deserved for lewis, how he hasn't gotten more accolades or played more rep footy is beyond me, if the bloke was a Qlder he would have been an origin staple.
E-Meter
Guest
Exactly right. Couldn't believe he wasn't selected for NSW.
PB
Guest
Always thought Lewis still had a lot to offer and hould've been in Origin ahead of Bird in the last years. But that's Daley and his selections for you.
mushi
Roar Guru
I thought lewis deserved it. There were three moments where he made the decision not to do something that showed rare restraint in the moment. The big one chosing not to extend his arm whilst sliding to the line, the others were two potential offloads 95% of players would have pushed and turned the ball over.
Zedman
Roar Rookie
Well said Max.
MAX
Guest
Luke Lewis it was reciprocal luck.You are one of those players who can do anything you put your mind to. You handle attack and defence with equal aplomb and are an absolute credit to the game. Coaches would be well advised to show a montage of how you made positional play an art form. You had that priceless gift of being able to make the ball do the work. Whatever the future, play well.
Existentialist
Guest
Congrats to LL. Always a good ambassador for the NRL (in my eyes) This appears to be political though. AF was clearly the best on ground but to promote a serial offender of misdemeanors I guess did not sit well with those up high and wanting to promote the game. Congrats to the Sharks as well!