How to lose a preliminary final
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 - 12:00 PM
Source: BigPond Sport
By Daniel Ramus
For very different reasons, Eels and Bulldogs fans will never forget the performance of Parramatta fullback Paul Carige on a cloudy September afternoon back in 1998 at the Sydney Football Stadium ...
The context
Canterbury looked to be out of their depth in the 1998 preliminary final, having finished ninth of the 10 finalists at the end of the regular season. They did remarkably well to reach the last four, having to win three elimination finals over St George, North Sydney and Newcastle successively to qualify.
The performance against the Knights was incredible, given the Bulldogs came back from 16-0 down to level the match at 16-all at the end of regular time, and then won 28-16 after extra-time (back in the days when teams played two 10-minute halves at the end of a drawn final).
Having had a week off while the Bulldogs slugged it out with the Knights, the Eels looked fresh and primed to end Canterbury's dream run. They played all over the Dogs for the majority of the game and put themselves in a seemingly unassailable position, leading 18-2 with only 10 minutes remaining. At this point, television commentators were justified in contemplating Parramatta's chances in the grand final against Brisbane the following week.
But in a staggering turn of events, the Bulldogs managed to score three tries in the final stages of the match, and with goalkicker Daryl Halligan converting two of them, scores were level at 18-all with just moments remaining.
It was in these crucial last moments that Carige began to completely lose his marbles.
Relive the horror
The blunders, blow by blow
In the last minute of regular time, the Dogs attempted a field goal which fell short, leaving the ball rolling slowly around the in-goal area. Carige attempted to earn his side a 20m restart by grounding the almost-stationary ball with his foot over the dead-ball line.
Unfortunately, the rules at the time stated that the ball needed to be in motion to earn a 20-metre restart. Referee Bill Harrigan deemed it had stopped and ordered the Eels to take a line-drop out, giving Canterbury a last-minute chance to break the deadlock.
The Bulldogs launched another unsuccessful attempt at a field goal from the resulting set of six and Carige ended up in possession. Inexplicably, he decided to kick the ball straight back to Canterbury from just outside Parramatta's 10-metre zone on the first tackle - which happened to be the last play of regular time.
It gave Dogs five-eighth Craig Polla-Mounter the chance to kick a field goal from 48 metres out. It was an opportunity Polla-Mounter very nearly capitalised on, with the ball falling just under the cross-bar. Channel Nine commentator Peter Sterling, a former Eels halfback, was clearly bemused by Carige's mistake, saying: "I cannot believe Paul Carige would have ever given an opportunity for that to happen."
The match then went into extra-time - and the fun really started.
With the Dogs leading by a point in the first half of added time, Carige caught a bomb from Polla-Mounter close to the sideline, just 10 metres from the Eels' line. All Bulldogs winger Gavin Lester needed to do was give him a nudge into touch, and he duly did so.
At this point, an increasingly frustrated Sterling launched into a tirade: "He has made some of the dumbest plays I have ever seen in a game of rugby league, Paul Carige. Why he would have ever tried to catch that football, why he wouldn't let it go for Lester to catch or allow it to bounce, I will never, ever know. There was only ever going to be one result and that was him going over the sideline."
Unaware of the outrage in the commentary box and undeterred by his misfortune, Carige continued on his disastrous way.
The Bulldogs led 25-18 in the second half, and Corey Hughes sent a kick in the direction of the Eels' fullback. In running the ball back, Carige simply put his foot over the sideline without a Canterbury player near him.
It was too much for Sterling, who said with a mixture of disbelief and anger: "He's caught the football and run it into touch". Fellow commentator Ray Warren added, with more than a little understatement: "Well, that has capped a day for the boy".
The fallout
Canterbury won the match comfortably, 32-20 and progressed to the grand final against the Broncos.
Carige couldn't step out in public without copping it from fans, and had to move to Coffs Harbour to avoid the spotlight. He then headed overseas, despite having a year still to run on his contract.
Clearly, the Eels couldn't have shown him the door quickly enough.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of BigPond Sport.
