Is 1999 the biggest grand final choke?

[Last Week]

Special mention to the 03 and 04 Roosters.

All that big game experience, all those exceptional players.

Todd Byrne not being able to outpace Sattler can only be described as a choke.

Then the next year, ahead by 7 at the half. Losing to two-way tries to Matt f**king Utai is pretty lol worthy.

 

[King hit]

1999 is certainly on the podium, which place is up for debate.

I'm shocked 2008 hasn't received a mention. Even without Smith, there is no way in hell Manly were a 40 point better side.

This is either a massive choke or it showed the complete lack of any backbone of the 2008 Melbourne side.


Brett Stewart Billy Slater
Michael Robertson Steve Turner
Steven Bell Matt Geyer
Steve Matai Israel Folau
David Williams Anthony Quinn
Jamie Lyon Greg Inglis
Matt Orford HB Cooper Cronk
Brent Kite Jeff Lima
Matt Ballin Russ Aitken
Josh Perry Brett White
Anthony Watmough Michael Crocker
Glen Hall Jeremy Smith
Glenn Stewart Dallas Johnson
Heath L'Estrange . Scott Anderson
Mark Bryant Adam Blair
Jason King Sika Manu
Steve Menzies Antonio Kaufusi

Melbourne lost to an 8th placed Warriors at home, escaped against the Broncos thanks to Ashton Sims and blew a very overachieving Cronulla team away. Their leader was gone and Manly had all the motivation and form behind them leading into the grand final.

It was theirs to lose

 

[YoHadrian]

Are the dragons in 1999 the biggest chokers in grand final history? Clear favourites heading into the match, with two victories already over the storm earlier in the season. Melbourne were really average in the grand final, and dragons lead 14-0 at half time. They even have an easy chance to put the match beyond doubt, but mundine drops the ball over the line. Is this the greatest grand final choke?

Bleah, don't remind me. Nothing that Mundine has said or done ever since that match stacks up as bad as coughing up the pill over the phwarking try line.

 

[T-Boon]

In 2001 Bill Peden ran at Jason Taylor on the line and scored a couple of tries.
You know it is a choke when Bill Peden does that at any time let alone in a GF.

 

[The_Frog]

Depends what you call a choke. There are two different kinds. Is it being in a seemingly winning position only to lose, or is it being a beaten favourite? If it's the former, Tigers 1989 and Dragons 1999. If it's the latter, few would come close to Roosters 2003 or Tigers 1969.

 

[mozza91]

I'm pretty sure they smashed Newy twice that year already.

They didn’t. We won the 1st they won the 2nd.

 

[dragon_around]

Is the 58-0 war crime from last year the biggest semi finals choke?

 

[The Mad Hatter]

GF chokes
Rabbits 69
Jets 81
Tigers 89
Manly 95/97
Saints 99
Eels 01
Roosters 03

Absolutely PF lol worthy are Saints 09, Souths 13 and Para 98.

But the lol of lols is the doomsday double of Eels / Saints 05.

 

[T-Boon]

It’s annoying that people say Parramatta choked and we did a Bradbury. The Knights won because they were a better team.

Parra did choke, but the Knights didn't do a Bradbury. It was a totally different thing. The Knights were near perfect in the first half. They always had that in them.

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Not even close when you look at Melbourne's roster. Sure, Mundine lost them the match but I wouldn't say it was a choke.

 

[blue bags]

1985 bulldogs v dragons, dragons in all 3 grandfinals that day , won the under23s, reserve grade, lost 1st grade by 1 point

 

[Whip Whitaker]

I thought it was a high shot on Mundine. With that being said, all he had to do was pass the ball.

 

[big hit!]

Parramatta 2001.

No-one will ever top that level of choke

Parra 2001 by a long way.

They set all sorts of records in the season and rested players in the lead up finals, and did all sorts of shit, like have Smith turn up late to games "just in case" etc

They were outright favorites in a game that was all over by the 25min mark.

I've never heard anyone call that a Bradbury, mainly because Bradbury didn't win the medal until 2002, and that's it's just considered a dominant performance by a great side.

It certainly wasnt a Bradbury by the knights.

Parra were (and still are?) Statistically the best side in history so the fact they were blown off the park in the manner they were makes it a choke.

Not even close. We were a better side than Parra. We played them once during the regular season with Joey and beat them comfortably and once without him and O’Davis and got pumped.

It’s annoying that people say Parramatta choked and we did a Bradbury. The Knights won because they were a better team.

Mozza. Newcastle didn't Bradbury. The premiership was well-earned. The difference between Newcastle and Parra that year was Parra got into hot form towards the end of the season, whereas Newcastle won only 6 matches in the last 12 rounds or so after they had led the comp for a month. Were Joey or other players injured.

but 24-0 in the first 40 mins. in a grand final. it doesn't matter that it was against the brilliance of Joey. that's a choke.

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

The 99GF is always spoken of this way, yet for me it's got all the parallels of the Tigers in what many call the greatest GF of all time in 89..

Both Dragons and Tigers were red hot favourites against teams who'd never won a competition.
Both hadn't won a competition for decades (70's and 60's respectively)
Both had two of arguably the greatest grand final tries seen. Sironen for Tigers and Blacklock for the Dragons
Both had significant half-time leads.
Both had crucial mistakes that cost their team tries - Mundine and Pearce dropping sitters, which arguably would have sealed the game.
Both had last minute tries by the opposition - one a penalty try to eventually win it, and another to set up a draw > extra time.
Both are agonising for fans of both sides whenever mentioned - so sorry Tigers fans! It's probably why I have the greatest respect for you guys over others. At least we got to see our teams win a comp! - And without a sombrero!

Yet the Dragons 99 side always get's quoted in stuff like this, while the Tigers rarely, if ever, get a mention.

And it's not even the Dragons' worst choke for mine, 1993 has 99 covered. At least we were in the contest to the end in 99. 93 was by far their worst performance all year, and we were actually favourites going into the GF against the Broncos.

But the biggest?

Others to choose from for me would be.

Storm against Manly is up there.
Roosters against Panthers in 2003.
Tigers vs Raiders in 89 - as above.
Manly against the Knights in 97.

But for mine it's between Manly (vs the Bulldogs) in 1995 and Parramatta (vs Knights) in 2001. I'll take Manly by a nose.

 

[Whip Whitaker]

The 99GF is always spoken of this way, yet for me it's got all the parallels of the Tigers in what many call the greatest GF of all time in 89..

Both Dragons and Tigers were red hot favourites against teams who'd never won a competition.
Both hadn't won a competition for decades (70's and 60's respectively)
Both had two of arguably the greatest grand final tries seen. Sironen for Tigers and Blacklock for the Dragons
Both had significant half-time leads.
Both had crucial mistakes that cost their team tries - Mundine and Pearce dropping sitters, which arguably would have sealed the game.
Both had last minute tries by the opposition - one a penalty try to eventually win it, and another to set up a draw > extra time.
Both are agonising for fans of both sides whenever mentioned - so sorry Tigers fans! It's probably why I have the greatest respect for you guys over others. At least we got to see our teams win a comp! - And without a sombrero!

Yet the Dragons 99 side always get's quoted in stuff like this, while the Tigers rarely, if ever, get a mention.

And it's not even the Dragons' worst choke for mine, 1993 has 99 covered. At least we were in the contest to the end in 99. 93 was by far their worst performance all year, and we were actually favourites going into the GF against the Broncos.

But the biggest?

Others to choose from for me would be.

Storm against Manly is up there.
Roosters against Panthers in 2003.
Tigers vs Raiders in 89 - as above.
Manly against the Knights in 97.

But for mine it's between Manly (vs the Bulldogs) in 1995 and Parramatta (vs Knights) in 2001. I'll take Manly by a nose.

Mundine was hit high. In today's game, that's a penalty try.

 

[Quicksilver]

Cronulla outdid St George in '99 and managed to choke the game before the grand final.

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

Mundine was hit high. In today's game, that's a penalty try.

You know what mate, like many others I've never been able to watch that game again - I was at the ground - top of the southern end stand where I saw all the carnage at near the end of the game. Mundine's drop happened up the other end and apart from a big screen replay - I never saw it again until a few years ago. And the first thing I thought of - trying to remove bias - was yes he was hit high. But no complaints from me though.

We lost. Melbourne played brilliantly in the 2nd half, like they were running downhill. I've tried to bury that body so many times, but people keep on digging up the carcass every now and then to leave on my doorstep..

The only thing I'll add to the choke argument is that it's (perhaps conveniently) forgotten that we finished 6th that year. Melbourne finished 3rd.

 

[Valheru]

On roosters 2003 i don't see that as a choke, we don't make the odds.

We played quite well on the day and didn't blow a lead so i cant call that a choke.

If Todd Byrne shows a little turn of foot we probably win the thing.

The only roosters GF loss that i have seen that i would consider a choke is 2004, that 2nd half was poor to say the least.

 

[typicalfan]

Went to the 2001 Grand Final fully expecting the Knights to beat the Eels. You need to look past the positions leading into the grand final and look at the teams individually. Knights had the best players on the field and they proved it when it mattered.

 

[Whip Whitaker]

You know what mate, like many others I've never been able to watch that game again - I was at the ground - top of the southern end stand where I saw all the carnage at near the end of the game. Mundine's drop happened up the other end and apart from a big screen replay - I never saw it again until a few years ago. And the first thing I thought of - trying to remove bias - was yes he was hit high. But no complaints from me though.

We lost. Melbourne played brilliantly in the 2nd half, like they were running downhill. I've tried to bury that body so many times, but people keep on digging up the carcass every now and then to leave on my doorstep..

The only thing I'll had to the choke argument is that it's (perhaps conveniently) forgotten that we finished 6th that year. Melbourne finished 3rd.

I can only think that the refs gave the defender the benefit of the doubt as Mundine was diving for the try line. But in my opinion, Mundine only drops it because of that knock to the head. But to Mundine's credit, he didn't act up or complain to the refs (that might have actually worked in his favour if he did, though).

I still, however, stand by my previous point that Mundine only had to pass it, though.