Valheru
Coach
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In my very bias opinion our finals campaign this season has to go down as one of the all time greats, certainly in the NRL era.
We beat all 3 of the other top 4 sides on our way to the premiership which is something that wasn't possible for the top 4 sides under the McIntyre system (unless they lost in week 1) and only the Storm in 2012 and Cronulla in 2016 have done the same.
To only concede the 3 tries over the 3 games was a phenomenal effort and of those 3 tries one was an intercept and another was off a kick so one try conceded through the hands is outstanding.
Looking at the games themselves, we started with what IMO was the highest quality of all finals games this year in terms of both teams turning up for the full 80 minutes. Some clinical plays in attack and desperate defence saw us overcome what was a very talented and committed Sharks team. Our prelim against souths was probably the worst overall performance of the 3 games with a lot of errors however our defence was superb and I think I am right in saying it was the first time in 10 years a team has been kept try less in a prelim. Then there was the GF which was by far our best performance in a GF in my lifetime.
Comparing with our other 2 NRL premiership campaigns in 2002 and 2013, both were very good but not as good as this year even though it could be argued both those sides were better squads. in 2002 we had a bit of a lethargic start to the Cronulla game and that GF was pretty tight until they decided to dog shot Freddy. 2013 started with a defensive performance which was probably superior to anything this year as well as a clinical prelim performance but the team almost choked in the GF and only really got it together in the last 30 minutes.
Our overall stats for this finals series was 54 points scored to 22 points conceded. One might argue that attacking wise that isn't particularly impressive but we did leave a lot of points on the field due to goal kicking.
Looking at other non roosters finals campaigns, in the NRL era, you have to exclude 98, 99, 04, 06, 07, 09 and 15 as the premiers there were either stripped of the comp (Storm) or beaten in first week of finals. There were some good ones during the rest of the McIntyre era but it is hard to compare due to the easier 1st week matchup. 2008 for Manly stands out with them scoring something like 100 points and only conceding 12. Hard to argue against that being one of the greats but it must be said their opposition were 7, 8 and 1. Wests in 05 was also a very good campaign as they did beat 5, 3, 2 and 5 again all convincingly. Dragons in 2010 was also very good with a commanding GF performance but the week 1 match up just doesn't shape up to some of the others.
For the current finals system Cowboys lost first up in 2015 as mentioned, Storm were very good last year but the GF was never a chance of being competitive and Souths played 7th in the decider. That leaves 2012 and 2016. 2016 was very strong from the Sharks but they almost bottled the GF. That leaves 2012 which to be fair probably does pip ours this year as they also beat the other top 4 teams to the tune of 78-22. They conceded one more try than us but scored a few more.
We beat all 3 of the other top 4 sides on our way to the premiership which is something that wasn't possible for the top 4 sides under the McIntyre system (unless they lost in week 1) and only the Storm in 2012 and Cronulla in 2016 have done the same.
To only concede the 3 tries over the 3 games was a phenomenal effort and of those 3 tries one was an intercept and another was off a kick so one try conceded through the hands is outstanding.
Looking at the games themselves, we started with what IMO was the highest quality of all finals games this year in terms of both teams turning up for the full 80 minutes. Some clinical plays in attack and desperate defence saw us overcome what was a very talented and committed Sharks team. Our prelim against souths was probably the worst overall performance of the 3 games with a lot of errors however our defence was superb and I think I am right in saying it was the first time in 10 years a team has been kept try less in a prelim. Then there was the GF which was by far our best performance in a GF in my lifetime.
Comparing with our other 2 NRL premiership campaigns in 2002 and 2013, both were very good but not as good as this year even though it could be argued both those sides were better squads. in 2002 we had a bit of a lethargic start to the Cronulla game and that GF was pretty tight until they decided to dog shot Freddy. 2013 started with a defensive performance which was probably superior to anything this year as well as a clinical prelim performance but the team almost choked in the GF and only really got it together in the last 30 minutes.
Our overall stats for this finals series was 54 points scored to 22 points conceded. One might argue that attacking wise that isn't particularly impressive but we did leave a lot of points on the field due to goal kicking.
Looking at other non roosters finals campaigns, in the NRL era, you have to exclude 98, 99, 04, 06, 07, 09 and 15 as the premiers there were either stripped of the comp (Storm) or beaten in first week of finals. There were some good ones during the rest of the McIntyre era but it is hard to compare due to the easier 1st week matchup. 2008 for Manly stands out with them scoring something like 100 points and only conceding 12. Hard to argue against that being one of the greats but it must be said their opposition were 7, 8 and 1. Wests in 05 was also a very good campaign as they did beat 5, 3, 2 and 5 again all convincingly. Dragons in 2010 was also very good with a commanding GF performance but the week 1 match up just doesn't shape up to some of the others.
For the current finals system Cowboys lost first up in 2015 as mentioned, Storm were very good last year but the GF was never a chance of being competitive and Souths played 7th in the decider. That leaves 2012 and 2016. 2016 was very strong from the Sharks but they almost bottled the GF. That leaves 2012 which to be fair probably does pip ours this year as they also beat the other top 4 teams to the tune of 78-22. They conceded one more try than us but scored a few more.
