So the Roosters went back to back thanks to Trent Robinson, Cooper Cronk, the Coach Whisperer and the best defence we have seen since the tackling show against the Storm two weeks ago.
They won in spite of a sin bin call against Cooper Cronk that was a millisecond late, with the assistance of Ben Cummins’ “six again is really five, sorry!”, Canberra’s weird tactics when the Roosters had 12 men on the field, some spectacular defence and three super tries.
Like all grand finals, this one featured some quirky happenings from outside the football area.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
One was smoke. When the headline act One Republic started to play, the smoke from the fireworks was so dense I thought we were having a repeat of a London pea soup fog or a Jack the Ripper movie. But it cleared in time for the fire.
The huge mechanical structure that looked like a Transformers reboot after many spectacular bursts of fireworks suddenly developed a fire in one of the vents. Never fear, Spiderman is here. Three time the first-responder fireman climbed the scaffold by holding a fire extinguisher and extinguished the blaze. After each smothering of fire retardant, the 82,000 crowd roared its delight.
Then the welcome to country did not go quite as planned with the welcomer Ryan James forgetting the words halfway through. Why not give him a flash card just in case?
Then came the worst half-time entertainment ever.
Something about a kick, something about Freddy’s passing competition. All accompanied by a hysterical host who tried but failed to get us excited. Music would be good. God forbid, dancing girls would be better, but not this drivel. And it went on so long. Yawn!
That Daryl Braithwaite and his friend came out to sing horses. Always good fun, but in the middle of the best part, the players doing their best cavalry charge ran back onto the field to spoil the ending.
In the game itself, there were some controversial moments, but the match was all about the Raiders’ inability to breach the Roosters’ defence, especially when they had 13 against 12. They did not seem to appreciate that the best way to stretch an undermanned side is to throw some passes wider where there may be a shortage of defenders.
The other relevant matter is that the Roosters’ back line is deadly once a break is made.
Luke Keary to Latrell Mitchell to Daniel Tupou to James Tedesco. Try. Right time, right place, game over. Great game.
Pacman
Roar Rookie
Just like the charge down hitting the trainers head they had the rules thats it end of story roosters feed.
Clint
Guest
The set before the Cronk binning Taukeiaho is incorrectly penalised for hand on the ball. If Raiders don't get that penalty then they aren't in the field position to have Papalii trying to steamroll Cronk from 10m out. Another sliding doors moment that no-one married to the Raiders GF victory fairytale outcome dares acknowledge.
sam
Guest
Agree with you fully. And the rooster bashing continues.. You only have to read the SMH for a very biased journalism against the roosters!
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
The sin bin was the right call. Any foul during a try scoring opportunity is a professional foul. Thats it. End of. If it happened on the half way line, penalty only. Why dont people get that? Why? Its not rocket science.
paulie
Guest
Why is it only the refs errors in the roosters favour that are being discussed. The charge down was a penalty to the roosters for dangerous contact but the media wont say it because they don't want to admit to letting their emotions getting the better of them. Before the raiders try they were awarded a penalty incorrectly when Elliot lost the ball in a tackle. The main ref called it lost and the 2nd ref coalled hand on the ball by a rooster which was incorrect. Makes it very hard to take any of the articles by writers seriously when they cant be unbiased and rational.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Considering the Rosters and the apparent advantage of having a superior coach along with the huge amount of experience I consider the way the game panned out was courtesy of a greatly superior performance. If they performed to the same level it would have been a walk in the park for the Chooks , how many Raiders make the Chooks team? Who drops out of the Chooks back line to include Wighton? I could drop the word greatly perhaps , but it's how I saw proceedings. They had the Manly x Storm 40 nil flogging on the other day and I watched most of it again. As a Manly fan it just confirmed what I thought a while back. Folau was easily the most dangerous player on the field and the Storm could have easily been ahead by 20 at half time but the luck ran Manly's way. I'm happy to accept luck going my way but I don't like it when ref errors are part of that luck. I just comment as I see things and it rarely lines up with the majority view but it won't change me. I also think Barrett could of had a great year this year but it doesn't worry me that I'm a lone wolf on that either, it's what I think.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
I have already admitted that even as a Rooster supporter that I thought that the Raiders were going to win the game. Be it by just a small margin but considering the ball they had in that second half they really should have so I cannot understand how you can even imply that the raiders being "greatly superior" , sorry but that was not the case because had they actually been "greatly superior" they would have won that game 3 times with 61% ball possession in the second half. Greatly superior teams do not squander that sort of possession, even against 12 men they failed to go through , over or around the Rooster defence. The Raiders were very good to keep the Roosters to that score I will agree but greatly superior not on yer nelly.
Chris.P.Bacon
Guest
Agreed ND. Start off with a "We Will Rock You"/"Eye Of The Tiger"/"Bad To The Bone" medley and, at the conclusion of the match, end off with a stirring rendition of "We Are The Champions". This should be immediately followed by the winning team facing their beaten opponents to sing "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and the Arthur Hamilton classic "Cry Me A River". That'd bring the kiddies back! ;)
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
Glad someone mentioned the pre game entertainment, for once actually well presented and the audio for once actually professional. As for entertainment value possibly great for the kids but certainly nothing better than well presented pleasant music. However when is the NRL going to understand a grand final is the right time and place for "Anthem music"....we have coming up one of the greatest gladiatorial games on the planet and for a warm up we have some bloke singing pleasant love songs .....seriously there is no love between the combatants, well not until after the game possibly with lots of hugging & stuff We have plenty of great Aussie bands that would have had the joint jumping as it should have been for the kick off but what we get is some obscure overseas artist singing love songs. Nothing wrong with what he presented but wrong place wrong time in my opinion, but that is just my opinion.
My Little Pony
Roar Rookie
In recent years, sides have become better at defending whilst a player down. It used to be that when a team were a player down, the automatic feeling was the opposition would score in that ten minutes. That feeling of inevitability has dissipated as teams have become more accustomed to making defensive adjustments when down to 12 players. It's not an easy thing to get on the outside of some defences.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Plenty of teams fail to score when the opponents have a player in the bin. The Raiders did send it wide at the right time but bombed a try. The lack of appreciation for the Raiders effort is puzzling. They were up against a clearly superior roster with a fantastic defence yet Stuarts tactics had them on top for most of the game. The inexperienced Raiders with an ''inferior'' coach were incredibly close to winning. With all the strike power in the Roosters team they should have been able to score a try in the 60 minutes they were tryless if we go down the path of who should be scoring tries. To be 8 all with less than 10 minutes to go was a hell of an effort and greatly superior considering the roster and lack of experience.