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NRL grand final: Head says Roosters, heart says Raiders

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5th October, 2019
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“It’s just got that feel.” Five words that usually sum up why supporters of an underdog team can go into a big game with ridiculous levels of confidence.

They were also uttered this week by Raiders recruitment and high-performance director Peter Mulholland as to why he believes his club will take out today’s NRL grand final.

2019 NRL Grand Final
» Match report: Roosters go back-to-back
» Player ratings: Sydney Roosters
» Player ratings: Canberra Raiders
» WATCH: Video highlights

“I said to Ricky the other day it’s just got that feel,” Mulholland told the Sydney Morning Herald.

I’d like to say I feel the same because – like, I suspect, the vast majority who are tuning in – I want Canberra to break their 25-year premiership drought.

They’re not the prettiest team but they try their guts out for each other.

Plus, and this also is a big plus, they’re not the Roosters.

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I’m not going to pile on the Tricolours for having a salary sombrero or accuse them of buying premierships. Sure, they’ve got access to a financial base that most other clubs would kill for, but money doesn’t guarantee success – otherwise the Broncos would be preparing for yet another grand final this week, instead of spending a third week wondering what the hell happened against the Eels.

And, as I pointed out around about this time last year, the idea the Roosters simply buy their team is bull dust. There are a few choice diamonds that Nick Politis purchased for his team, but the majority are one-club men or have spent most of their career in Bondi.

No, the Roosters are on the cusp of their third grand final victory this decade because they recruit and retain excellent talent, are coached by one of the best in the business, and maintain a level of professionalism that can only be instilled on the field if it’s found across the organisation.

Boyd Cordner

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

They have some advantages, sure, but they are also hamstrung by a serious lack of junior talent. It’s not a set-up that guarantees success by any means.

The reason they’re so successful is because they demand the best of their people and have a culture of delivering exactly that.

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They win because they’re better at almost all facets of rugby league – the game and the business – than every other club in a salary-capped competition.

And this helps them keep quality players who are offered more money elsewhere.

You have to respect them as a club for doing this.

But this is Australia – we invented tall-poppy syndrome – so just because you respect them, doesn’t mean you have to like them.

So screw the Roosters. Of course I’m supporting the Raiders.

We’re all supporting the Raiders.

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But when I think of underdog stories in rugby league – the Knights in 1997, the Knights again in 2001, the Knights basically anytime they’ve won a game at all in the past four years – there’s a feel. Like somehow the little team that could can.

This year? I’ve got zero feels.

It’s not quite like 2017, when a busted Cowboys outfit just somehow kept winning again and again until they made it to the grand final on an empty tank and got smoked by a red-hot Storm. The Raiders earned the second week of the finals off so are as rested as it gets and have pretty much the full complement suiting up today.

Jack Wighton celebrates

(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

They’ll have a crack, make no mistake. But as for scoring more points than the Roosters? Yeah, it ain’t gonna happen.

Truth be told, I’m sorta hedging my bets. On an episode of Game of Codes earlier this year, I predicted the Roosters would not win this season’s title – Origin, injuries, the general grind of being the reigning champs, a lack of desire; I cited the classics, basically.

As for who’d hoist the Provan-Summons Trophy instead? My bold call was none other than the Canberra Raiders.

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So if Ricky Stuart’s boys somehow beat the odds and win today, I’ll be unbearably smug about my far earlier prediction.

But I just can’t see it happening.

Canberra fans, I’m with you. But, sadly, while there’s plenty of emotion, there’s no feel.

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