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Best Grand Finals that never were..

The_Frog

First Grade
Messages
6,390
Souths v Balmain 1989 is another one - a rematch of the 1969 GF 20 years later, and Souths last big chance before their slide - although winning the 1989 GF may have helped avoid their decline - butterfly effect & all that.

Mind you, Souths v Balmain in 1989 would have denied the Raiders their first title.. and no guarantees the game would have been as good as what we got with Tigers v Raiders.
That was the year 1 and 2 both went out backwards, with neither winning a game.
 

The_Frog

First Grade
Messages
6,390
Eels vs dragons 05 would of been epic

instead we got the Bradbury GF which just felt like a very average club game and goes down as one of the worst Gf’s ever
Mate it was 29-0. You can't get much more emphatic than that in a big final. The two teams that made it richly deserved it, and it was a special event with two maiden teams playing for the title.

If anything the Dragons had the winning of the title in them more than any other team both in 04 and 05, but they were complacent and lazy, and both years were eliminated by teams that shouldn't have got near them.
 

horrie hastings

First Grade
Messages
9,084
Easts playing in any decider during Parra's 3-peat

1981 was interesting, Easts beat Parramatta 20-6 in the second last premiership round and looked odds on favourite to win the premiership on that performance but then the wheels fell off for Easts after that, they lost to Wests the following week but still finished minor premiers.
They had the week off then played Parramatta in the major semi after Parramatta beat Newtown in a close affair the week before.
Easts looked so underdone against Parramatta and despite a stuttering performance managed to get the score to 8-8 with Ron Giteau a chance to convert his own try to put East straight into the Grand Final with only a couple of minutes left on the clock but the kick missed and the game went into extra time and Easts ill discipline gave Parra two penalty shots at goal for them to win 12-8. The following week Easts sadly bowed out in another lacklustre performance against Newtown at a bitterly cold SCG. To me 1981 was the one that got away for Easts, dominate for most of the season and the premiership was there for the taking, that year really hurt for me more so than the 2003-2004 seasons, after 1981 despite making the play offs a couple of times ( 1982 and 1987 ), it was a lean time for the Roosters till Brad Fittler came along.
 

The_Frog

First Grade
Messages
6,390
Norths v Canberra, 1991 (f**king Daryl Halligan and the one game his kicking game went to shit)
They did play in the prelim and it was a walkover. Raiders didn't have an Anthony Xuereb to gift the Bears tries. And the Raiders couldn't get past the Panthers in the GF so wouldn't have in the prelim either. Panthers vs Norths would have been more fitting but the Bears weren't good enough.
 
Messages
16,135
1998 - Knights vs Broncos, the unified competition would have been great to start with the two defending premiers meeting in the big dance. The Knights flamed out in the finals, although the star studded Donkeys team was always going to be hard to topple either way. Instead the 1 v 9 grand final played out how you would expect 1 v 9 to play out.

2005 - Tigers vs Eels, maybe for more personal reasons, but playing a team you ran 50 through in 3 weeks earlier was a little bit anticlimactic. We finished 4th and easily accounted for teams 5, 3 and 2, so coming up against the minor premiers in the grand final was a big one. Considering we didn’t beat them from about 2003 until about 2010, this would have been the chance to do so. I think combining the form we were in, with Brian Smiths overthinking nature for a big game we would have seen them off.
 

Reflector

Bench
Messages
2,774
1998 - Knights vs Broncos, the unified competition would have been great to start with the two defending premiers meeting in the big dance. The Knights flamed out in the finals, although the star studded Donkeys team was always going to be hard to topple either way. Instead the 1 v 9 grand final played out how you would expect 1 v 9 to play out.
Two SL teams in the first decider of a unified comp is exactly what the organisation who were 50% stakeholders in the NRL wanted, let's keep it at that.
 

King hit

Coach
Messages
14,342
Two SL teams in the first decider of a unified comp is exactly what the organisation who were 50% stakeholders in the NRL wanted, let's keep it at that.
I wonder if the 1998 grand final had that same vibe that the 2017 grand final had. One of the greatest modern day teams in history coming up against one that was mid table who went on a golden run before being shown up in the big one. Bulldogs even made the 1998 grand final from 9th
 

Perth Tiger

Bench
Messages
3,338
2010 - Tigers vs Dragons. If we had just picked up the f**king ball from the scrum we would of beaten Easts in week 1 and probably faced the Dragons in the GF setting up a rematch of the 2005 Prelim, would of been some atmosphere.
 

The_Frog

First Grade
Messages
6,390
I wonder if the 1998 grand final had that same vibe that the 2017 grand final had. One of the greatest modern day teams in history coming up against one that was mid table who went on a golden run before being shown up in the big one. Bulldogs even made the 1998 grand final from 9th
Same in 2009, only the premiership was stripped.
 
Messages
16,135
I wonder if the 1998 grand final had that same vibe that the 2017 grand final had. One of the greatest modern day teams in history coming up against one that was mid table who went on a golden run before being shown up in the big one. Bulldogs even made the 1998 grand final from 9th

very similar games. Once the favourites got a lead they were always going to run away with it. You could say the same about 2014. Had Parra not done a Parra then an Eels vs Broncos game could have been worth it. Although he has a dreadful record in grand finals, Brian Smith at the time seemed to have Bennett’s number.
 

Reflector

Bench
Messages
2,774
I wonder if the 1998 grand final had that same vibe that the 2017 grand final had. One of the greatest modern day teams in history coming up against one that was mid table who went on a golden run before being shown up in the big one. Bulldogs even made the 1998 grand final from 9th
It had those same vibes about it. That 10 team finals series in '98 was a joke. The Roosters, Knights and Eels (off the top of my head) all were more capable of giving the Broncos a genuine contest in a decider.
 

Showtime

Juniors
Messages
964
2007 Broncos v Storm - I still believe that the broncos would’ve gone back to back had Lockyer not ruptured his ACL.

The GF ended up being Storm v Manly which was a rubbish game.
 

pantherz9103

First Grade
Messages
9,617
2014 would have been a Souths v Penrith Grand Final if we didn't lose to the Bulldogs in the prelim finals. However I'm pretty sure nobody was stopping Souths from winning that GF in '14 so I'm retrospectively glad we didn't lose to them in the GF and instead we can treasure our 2021 victory over the 'Pride of the League'.
 

Manu Vatuvei

Coach
Messages
17,688
2010 - Tigers vs Dragons. If we had just picked up the f**king ball from the scrum we would of beaten Easts in week 1 and probably faced the Dragons in the GF setting up a rematch of the 2005 Prelim, would of been some atmosphere.

I’m still dirty about that. Chris Heighington somehow forgets how to pick the ball up from a scrum and it ends up with the Warriors eliminated in round 1 after finishing 5th. 2011 was justice after that.
 

King hit

Coach
Messages
14,342
It had those same vibes about it. That 10 team finals series in '98 was a joke. The Roosters, Knights and Eels (off the top of my head) all were more capable of giving the Broncos a genuine contest in a decider.
Roosters received a massive flogging from them in the preliminary final that year. Parra and the knights definitely could’ve challenged them.
 

SBD82

Coach
Messages
18,207
2010 - Tigers vs Dragons. If we had just picked up the f**king ball from the scrum we would of beaten Easts in week 1 and probably faced the Dragons in the GF setting up a rematch of the 2005 Prelim, would of been some atmosphere.
In a lot of ways the Dragons v Tigers semi was the real grand final that year. Absolutely cracking game and the Tigers were much more likely to knock us off than the Roosters.
 

roofromoz

First Grade
Messages
7,580
2014 would have been a Souths v Penrith Grand Final if we didn't lose to the Bulldogs in the prelim finals. However I'm pretty sure nobody was stopping Souths from winning that GF in '14 so I'm retrospectively glad we didn't lose to them in the GF and instead we can treasure our 2021 victory over the 'Pride of the League'.

Souths winning margin I think would have been higher if PENRITH! made it instead of the Dogs. It was just their year, our GF was the QF v Roosters.
 

some11

Referee
Messages
23,928
Whilst the Warriors losing so heavily in round one was a joke, every team that didn't make the GF lost. The Tigers and Storm lost to a side that lost by 40 points in round one of the finals.
The point is coming 6th and losing by 30 in the first week now equals death.

Good riddance to an idiotic system.
 
Messages
10,944
The point is coming 6th and losing by 30 in the first week now equals death.

Good riddance to an idiotic system.
No I get that, but I can't see how anyone who lost in a finals series would feel robbed. Did the Warriors deserve to make the GF? Maybe not given they got belted by Brisbane. But neither did anyone who lost to us subsequently.
 

some11

Referee
Messages
23,928
No I get that, but I can't see how anyone who lost in a finals series would feel robbed. Did the Warriors deserve to make the GF? Maybe not given they got belted by Brisbane. But neither did anyone who lost to us subsequently.
Yeah I'm just directing my anger at the system that was in place.
 
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