In the absence of any live sport while the globe fights the COVID-19 pandemic, I will continue to revisit some of the most memorable matches between the two sides that would have met this weekend.

In this flashback we will revisit a couple of thrillers, including the Storm’s qualifying final win over the Rabbitohs in 2018, the Raiders’ great escape against the Sea Eagles in 2018, three upset victories in 2005 and one of the most amazing scorelines of the 2006 NRL season.

Also included is the Warriors’ finals comeback win against the Wests Tigers in 2011, which indirectly led to the NRL overhauling its finals system for the 2012 season and beyond.

So, sit back and relax while I take you down memory lane between the would-be Round 4 opponents.

2018 Qualifying Final: Storm defeated Rabbitohs 29-28
One of the most thrilling finals in recent NRL history took place just under two years ago, when the Melbourne Storm and South Sydney Rabbitohs met in a pulsating qualifying final at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on September 7, 2018.

Going into this match, the Bunnies had never won in Melbourne, but pulled out all the stops as they bid to break their duck in the AFL capital.

Under rookie coach Anthony Seibold, the Rabbitohs were the best attacking team across the regular season, but they came up against the second-best defensive team in the Storm, who were the defending premiers.

After eight minutes, the Bunnies scored first through Dane Gagai, and had the chance to double their lead only for Sam Burgess to knock on while attempting to score.

Nearing halftime, Suliasi Vinavalu would score one of the tries of the year to give his side a 16-12 halftime advantage. The Storm’s lead would extend to 18-12 after Cameron Smith potted over a penalty goal following the sin-binning of George Burgess.

But the Rabbitohs would ramp up the pressure on the Storm, and nine minutes out from full-time, Cameron Murray would score for the visitors after Josh Addo-Carr was pinged for a forward pass minutes earlier.

Just as it seemed the Bunnies would break their Melbourne duck once and for all, the Storm would reel them in again, with Cheyse Blair touching down before Cameron Munster stepped up to kick the match winning field goal with three minutes remaining.

That would give the Storm a 29-28 win, sending them through to a home preliminary final, while the Rabbitohs would have to take the long way around to remain alive in September.

Round 18, 2005: Knights defeated Cowboys 22-18
One of the biggest upsets of the 2005 season occurred just after the State of Origin series, when the Newcastle Knights came from 18-4 down at halftime to record a 22-18 victory over the finals-bound North Queensland Cowboys.

It had been a disappointing season for the Novocastrians, premiers only four years earlier, losing their first 13 games of the season, with captain Andrew Johns playing sporadically as he recovered from a knee injury which had wiped out his 2004 season after Round 3.

However, they would start to turn their season around, coming from behind to beat the Penrith Panthers at the foot of the mountains, but the joy was short-lived when, without Johns, Danny Buderus and Steve Simpson in the side, they lost to the Sydney Roosters at home the following week.

But with the trio back from the Blues’ victorious Origin campaign (in which they thrashed Queensland 32-10 in the deciding match at Suncorp Stadium), the Knights would record a morale-boosting win over the Cowboys that would start a rich vein of form.

The Cowboys, with the likes of Matthew Bowen and Johnathan Thurston backing up from the Maroons’ game-three defeat, had the wind against them in the first half but still managed to build an 18-4 halftime lead.

But, like the Panthers in Round 16, the northerners would be made to pay the price for underestimating the last-placed Knights in the second half, being held scoreless in the second 40 minutes as they crashed to a 22-18 defeat.

Johns was, of course, the catalyst for the Knights’ second half resurgence as they scored three unanswered tries to record just their second win of the year.

The club would finish the season strongly, with their win over the Cowboys being the first of seven they would enjoy in an eight-week period, but it would not be enough as they eventually finished with the wooden spoon for the first time in 2005.

They would enjoy a most-improved 2006 season, finishing in the top four, but would then crash out of September in the semi-finals.

Round 12, 2018: Raiders defeated Sea Eagles 21-20
After consecutive losses to the Sharks and Dragons on the road, the Canberra Raiders would ride their luck to beat the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at home midway through the 2018 season.

Despite their lowly ladder position, the Sea Eagles had come out to play, and two early tries saw them take an early 14-2 lead. However, the Raiders would peg the margin back thanks to two tries from Nick Cotric and a penalty goal from Jarrod Croker on halftime.

Another penalty goal from Croker saw the scores locked up at 14-all six minutes into the second half, but Trent Hodkinson would kick one for his side to put them 16-14 up shortly afterwards.

Hodkinson would later be sent to the sin-bin after being caught offside while the Sea Eagles were attempting to defend their tryline, but they would be next to score when Brian Kelly crashed over to give them a 20-14 lead with less than 20 minutes to play.

Just as it seemed the Silvertails would hang on for the win, up stepped Jack Wighton to score for the Raiders, with Croker’s conversion leveling the scores at 20-all with two minutes remaining.

Then, right at the death, Aidan Sezer would step up to kick the match-winning field goal, giving the Green Machine a 21-20 victory and their fourth home win for the 2018 season.

2011 Semi-Final: Warriors defeated Wests Tigers 22-20
The New Zealand Warriors’ surprise run to the 2011 NRL grand final was one of many reasons why the league decided to scrap the controversial McIntyre system in favour of the AFL finals system in 2012.

Finishing in sixth place at the end of the regular season, the Warriors copped a 40-10 thrashing at the hands of the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, but lived to fight another day after the 7th-placed Cowboys and 8th-placed Knights later lost their respective qualifying finals against the Sea Eagles and Storm.

After that loss to the Broncos, outgoing coach Ivan Cleary was quoted as saying “the way we played tonight, we don’t deserve to be in the finals”.

They were then drawn to face the Wests Tigers, which had beaten defending premiers the Dragons in their qualifying final, in a semi-final that was to be played at the since-demolished Sydney Football Stadium.

Making the Warriors’ assignment all the more tougher was the fact that the Tigers had won nine consecutive matches – a club record which they achieved the previous week in their win over the Dragons.

The Warriors trailed by 18-6 at halftime, and a straight-sets exit from September appeared on the cards.

However, they would keep the Tigers tryless in the second half with Krisnan Inu scoring the match winning try with less than five minutes remaining, to send the Kiwis through to their first preliminary final since 2003.

It ensured that the Wests Tigers’ season ended in heartbreak and as of 2020, it remains their most recent finals match, the club’s eight-year absence from September currently the longest by any club in the NRL.

The Warriors would later upset minor premiers the Melbourne Storm in the preliminary final the following week, before losing to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the decider.

Under the current finals system, teams 5 and 8, and teams 6 and 7, face off in elimination finals with only the winners from those two matches progressing further.

Round 4, 2005: Sharks defeated Bulldogs 26-12
Sharks fans were treated to an early surprise when, in Round 4 of the 2005 season, their team sprung an upset 26-12 victory over the Bulldogs at home.

The Sharks, who had missed the finals the previous two seasons, were banking on the leadership of captain Brett Kimmorley as they looked to climb back up the ladder in 2005.

They had beaten 2003 premiers the Penrith Panthers in Round 1, and also beat the Parramatta Eels on the road in Round 3, but the win over the Bulldogs came as a surprise even to their die-hard fans.

Despite losing two of their first three matches, the Dogs entered as favourites but would be struck down by injury and illness, with Sonny Bill Williams and Willie Tonga having to be isolated from the playing squad after contracting the mumps.

In the match itself, SBW would suffer an ankle injury that would derail his and the Bulldogs’ season, with the club eventually finishing 12th at the end of the year – down ten places from their second-place finish in 2004.

The Sharks led 18-0 at halftime, but the Bulldogs showed just why they were the premiers from the previous season, performing the better of the two teams in the second half but being unable to reel in the men from the Shire, who won by 26-12.

Winger Luke Covell contributed 14 points, scoring a try and landing five goals.

Round 24, 2005: Panthers defeated Broncos 22-20
The 2005 season may have seen a decline in the Penrith Panthers’ fortunes but they were able to finish the season strongly, upsetting the then-ladder leading Brisbane Broncos by 22-20 in the third-last round of the regular season.

The Broncos had enjoyed a strong season which at one point saw them win ten consecutive matches, but the dreaded Origin period took out the best in their players and they would end up finishing the year poorly.

After suffering consecutive losses for the first time in the year in rounds 22-23, the Broncos started favourites to hit back when they landed at the foot of the mountains for the first time since Round 26 the previous season.

Despite being without captain Darren Lockyer and several others, the northerners started the match strongly, leading 8-0 after 23 minutes, but the Panthers would hit back to take a 14-8 lead into halftime.

Tries to Brent Tate and Brad Thorn saw the Broncos take a 20-14 lead going into the final five minutes, but two tries to Paul Franze, the second with less than a minute remaining, saw the mountain men claim a 22-20 victory.

Proving their giant-killing worth, the Panthers would beat the eventual premiers, the Wests Tigers, by 38-22 a fortnight later in the final round, ending season 2005 with five straight wins.

Round 13, 2006: Dragons defeated Eels 8-1
One of the most bizarre matches in recent history played out halfway through the 2006 season, when St George Illawarra and Parramatta contested the first match to be played under floodlights at Kogarah Oval.

Wet weather conditions saw both sides enter the halftime break locked at nil-all, and it looked as though the match would finish that way for the first time since 1982, with neither team able to handle the weather conditions well.

That was until, with ten minutes remaining, Eels five-eighth (and current Sharks coach) John Morris kicked a field goal to break the deadlock, giving his side a 1-0 lead as if it was a soccer match.

However, Dragons captain Ben Hornby would then kick a pair of field goals to give the hosts a 2-1 lead with a minute to play, and it looked like the match would finish without either team scoring a try.

The Eels then won a scrum feed with merely seconds remaining, but would turn the ball over, resulting in Matt Cooper scoring right at the death to give the Dragons an 8-1 victory.

The win gave the Dragons a 7-5 record after thirteen rounds (they had a bye in round eleven), while it was the Eels’ ninth defeat from twelve matches (they had their bye in Round 6).

2010 preliminary final: Roosters defeated Titans 32-6
In their first four seasons, the Gold Coast Titans had shown plenty of promise, not having to wait long to reach their first preliminary final.

After finishing fourth at the end of the regular season, the Titans played host to the New Zealand Warriors in their qualifying final and won by 28-16.

Under the finals system that was in place at the time, they had to wait 24 hours before they knew whether they would play again in week two, or receive a direct passage to week three.

Fortunately for the Titans, two teams ranked above them – the Penrith Panthers and Wests Tigers – both lost their qualifying finals, meaning they and minor premiers the Dragons would host a preliminary final at home.

Awaiting them in the grand final qualifier would be the Sydney Roosters, who had won the wooden spoon the previous year but, under the coaching of Brian Smith, had climbed back up into the upper echelon of the ladder.

Unfortunately, the Titans would save their worst performance for the season until last, crashing to a 32-6 defeat in front of 44,787 fans at Suncorp Stadium.

The Chooks scored five tries, with Sam Perrett scoring a double, while the reformed Todd Carney landed five conversions and a penalty goal for a personal haul of 12 points.

It marked their fifth straight victory, and their fourth win in Queensland for the year, and ensured they would finish 2010 undefeated outside of New South Wales borders, though they did lose 20-18 to the Warriors in New Zealand during the regular season.

William Zillman scored the Titans’ only try as their most successful season ended in bitter disappointment.

The Roosters’ bid to rise from wooden spooners to premiers was then thwarted when they lost to the Dragons 32-8 in the grand final; nonetheless, it was an impressive season for the boys from Bondi, who would end the 2010s as the most successful team of the decade.