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Brad fittlers grand finals

parra_jesus

Juniors
Messages
632
Been watching gf replays on fox the last few days. Its hard to actually gauge a players overall performance watching it tho seeing as they dont play the full 80 min game. And you only see 1 out of 6 sets. But my question is, did fittler go missing/choke in those early 2000's granf finals
 
Messages
8,480
Been watching gf replays on fox the last few days. Its hard to actually gauge a players overall performance watching it tho seeing as they dont play the full 80 min game. And you only see 1 out of 6 sets. But my question is, did fittler go missing/choke in those early 2000's granf finals

Firstly my opinion is the word "choke" is used far too often / cliched for anyone or any team who's lost something.

Some people have great grand final performances, some are decent, some are below average, some are poor.

I'd suggest that the reasons those teams actually made the GF was largely because of Fittler. I wouldn't say he went missing or choked. Save that for my Dragons team in '93...
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,215
I watched the 2004 grand final recently. Two despised teams but the quality of that game was incredible. Fitler was awesome in that game just unlucky the Dogs got them in the end.

The Roosters probably choked a bit in 03... i kind of remember them being favorites even though Penrith were minor premiers.
 
Messages
14,028
I watched the 2004 grand final recently. Two despised teams but the quality of that game was incredible. Fitler was awesome in that game just unlucky the Dogs got them in the end.

The Roosters probably choked a bit in 03... i kind of remember them being favorites even though Penrith were minor premiers.

i was young in 2003 but throughout the season whenever I spoke to anyone about the Panthers winning the comp the usual response was “the finals will sort them out.” I don’t think people took them seriously until they’d won it.
 

THE CHAMP

First Grade
Messages
8,221
Firstly my opinion is the word "choke" is used far too often / cliched for anyone or any team who's lost something.

Some people have great grand final performances, some are decent, some are below average, some are poor.

I'd suggest that the reasons those teams actually made the GF was largely because of Fittler. I wouldn't say he went missing or choked. Save that for my Dragons team in '93...


93? More like 99.
In 93 you were up against a far superior team
 
Messages
13,793
In 2000, we were lucky to get to the GF. Was the first time the team had made one in 20 years. It was still unlimited interchange and the Broncos were an efficient, if somewhat boring team that year. They just bashed and barged their way to victory.

2002 it all came together. The forwards gave Freddy the time and space to dictate play and he nailed it.

2003 the team started slowly. However going into the last 20 minutes it was all locked up. Sattler's tackle on Byrne was the turning point as, not long after, the Panthers hit the front by scoring a converted try. It was ll down hill from there. It raining that day just prior to the game, and drizzling during the first half made the ground greasy which more suited the Panthers style of play.

In 2004, by Grand Final day Fittler was mentally worn out. He said it himself in his autobiography. His comeback for origins 2 and 3 that year took a lot out of him. He also picked up a nasty shoulder injury in the second or third last round that year which hampered him the rest of the season. Then you had some dumb things by Ricky Stuart (e.g. only using one of his interchange players for 7 minutes in the whole game), and the players as a group playing their worst half of football all year in the second half (a number of them said this to me as I was at the Roosters team function at the Easts Leagues Club after the GF). As such I would not pin that loss on Freddy.
 

King hit

Coach
Messages
13,756
Fittler should've been the CCM winner in 2002. Roosters are behind after that Stacey Jones try, Fittler rallies the team and inspires them to a big win.
 
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14,028
The other thing about 2003 is it came right after the 2002 grand final where the Roosters won easily in the end against the Cinderella minor premiers. Probably also why in 2004 the cowboys were given a bit more of a chance from the average fans.
 

Jordan

Juniors
Messages
1,651
The Roosters were probably a premiership short of what they should've been in those early 2000's. They were never going to win in 2000 but were a big chance 02 (where they won) and 03-04. Not sure if it was Freddy's fault but they came up against some pretty determined outfits in the Panthers of 03 and Bulldogs of 04.
 
Messages
11,595
The Roosters were probably a premiership short of what they should've been in those early 2000's. They were never going to win in 2000 but were a big chance 02 (where they won) and 03-04. Not sure if it was Freddy's fault but they came up against some pretty determined outfits in the Panthers of 03 and Bulldogs of 04.


Sticky blamed Finch for those losses.
 
Messages
8,480
93? More like 99.
In 93 you were up against a far superior team

We finished equal first in 1993 and beat the Broncos in the final round at ANZ in front of about 60k fans. Broncos finished 5th. The broncos were decent but nothing like the dominance of 1992.

We we favourites but never got out of gear at all in the GF. Probably the most mundane performance of any grand final team i can recall. By far worse than 99.

99 is always considered the real Clanger but many forget we finished 6th in the regular season and the Storm finished 3rd. Yeah we should have won the game but the Storm were a high quality team.

93 was by far the worst of the two for mine. But I’ve never watched either again (aside from the random highlights of 99 that invariably hit my telly before I can change the channel).
 

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