I had a feeling after they uploaded all the Origin games they'd turn their attention to the Grand Finals. Hopefully it won't be long before we see entire seasons picked up.
I decided to check out a Grand Final I hadn't seen in 14 odd years, the 2005 Grand Final. I have such fond memories of that season and I have the impression that it's generally considered one of the best seasons of the modern era. Partially because every fanbase, even the Knights, had something to be happy about moving forward and it seemed like the salary cap was giving the fans what they wanted - an unpredictable competition where anyone could win it.
The Cowboys were valiant but just made too many errors on the night. The Bowman to Bowen gaffe was the most memorable but just about everytime they made their way inside Wests' territory they'd make an unforced error early. Down by 12 mid-way through the second half it looked like the game was going to get away from them only for JT to work a nice play with Norton. There was a small window of opportunity to level the scores and make a game of it, but Firman came up with two awful end of sets and the Tigers were barely fazed. The forwards worked their backsides off and Bowen/JT tried hard but they just didn't have enough support. Under all the pressure JT wilted and spent more time giving Cecchin a gobful than playing the game.
Wests were a more realised side. Everybody in that team knew their role and while they didn't have the quality of other premiership winning sides, they knew which players to prop up. I loved how Sheensy used Benji. Marshall wasn't just a five-eighth, he'd actually find himself on the wing for kick returns which helped energize the Tigers start of sets. It paid off beautifully with that Pat Richards try. That was a beautiful example of turning defence into attack and credit to Sheens understanding how vital it was to get Benji involved in those early plays.
Prince handled the kicking game brilliantly. Gave his chasers plenty of opportunities to compete for the ball to put the Cowboys under pressure early. And when the game was there to be won, kept pinning the Cowboys down inside their own half. I thought he struggled with his general play, but he did set up the match-winner getting around Firman to set up the 2-1 down the right.
Where I think they really had it made was around the ruck. It wasn't as pronounced, but that 1-2 combination of Farah and Halatau kept the Cowboys on the back-foot and was vital in their win against the Dragons a week earlier. Their work around the ruck and ability to keep the ball alive played to the strengths of the better players and made them such a tough team to handle.
You make a lot of good points here. I went back and watched the 2005 decider myself last night, having not seen it in full since watching it live on TV that night-
It was a breath of fresh air to see two likeable, underdog teams going all out and playing expansive, honest footy. There's some attempts to hold down in the tackles but apart from that there's none of this wrestling or grappling going on that's become so common since a certain expansion team down south made it popular. The play-the-balls, especially in the opening 20 minutes, are so quick compared to today. There's none of the grubby cynicism we see every week from *certain* teams that have won Premierships in the years since...
Cowboys were gallant, but you could see their lack of big match experience bite them. So many handling errors, and JT's lack of maturity shows in his constant berating of the officials. It didn't surprise me that the moment he stopped this "The NRL/ refs have it in for us" thing was the moment he lead the Cowboys all the way to a Premiership. Tigers? I remember thinking they couldn't keep that pace of theirs up through the finals- they played with 3 E's- energetically, enthusiastically and expansively. If Joey had played in that team they would've had 4 E's and who knows what they might've kicked on to achieve?
It was a joy to watch, and notable for being the last season where teams had just a single major jersey sponsor without the cluttered mess we see these days. I also can't remember there being a "feel good" Grand Final like that one since. There have been fairytale wins (Cowboys, Sharks) and drought-breakers (Saints, Souths) but I can't think of a decider since 2005 that hasn't featured at LEAST one of:
Storm (grubs)
Roosters (Uncle Nick's Chequebook Chooks)
Bulldogs (nobody's second-favourite team)
Manly (Bulldogs with a beach)
Broncos (enough said)
But styles of play in this game come and go. Back in the mid 80's it was all low-scoring and defence. At the turn of this century it was like touch footy with the blowout scores. Likewise, this Bellamy-era cancerous, joyless style will pass sooner or later. Hopefully it's place will be taken by faster, more expansive games where the halves are encouraged to be more versatile with their kicking instead of just hitting it up for 6 and bombing every set. Also be great to see some deciders fully featuring the Panthers/ Knights/ Tigers/ Warriors/ Raiders/ Dragons instead of the unpopular/ annual contestants listed above.
I've got hope we'll see another 2005 or 3 soon enough. Now on the subject of grubbiness, I'm going to check out 1973 next...
