Your top 5 Grand Finals

[axl rose]

However the quality of the game was actually terrible. The Raiders were by far the better team for the entire 80 and then 100 minutes. Balmain leading 12-2 at halftime was more a fluke then anything,

Scoreline flattered Balmain, though they defended their guts out. Stuarts long kicking and passing game was crazy good for his time. Balmain/Keith Barnes actually signed him from Union but Stuart reneged and signed with Raiders.

1) For mine 2003 is the best Ive seen. Absolutely terrential conditions but both sides still played footy and at the highest level you could have asked for. Luke Priddis putting in what was probably the best individual performance in a GF in recent memory. I think the Roosters win the GF on most occassions with a performance like that, but the Panthers just bettered them

Martin Lang must enjoy pain, got shoulder charge/smashed by Ricketson and Morely all night but kept on coming.

 

[jim_57]

The first Grand Final I remember with any sort of clarity was 1998 so since then:

1. 2015 - Cowboys fan, I was at the game with 3 Broncos fans. Enough said. Probably won't ever be topped for me.

2. 2003 - I remember saying to someone at school the Panthers would do well that year and got laughed at, didn't think they'd go quite this well. First Grand Final I really remember really being on the edge of my seat the whole game.

3. 2001 - I was going for anyone but the Eels that year, to see them get blown off the park in the first half after such a dominant year was great to see. I've had a soft spot for the Knights since watching that one.

4. 1999 - Was going for Melbourne, one of the classics. Appreciate how unlikely what happened was in hindsight.

5. 2014 - Souths had sucked pretty much my entire life so it was good to see them get one on the board after so long.

 

[t-ba]

Instead of a top 5, I'd like to put down my Top 40

1.2008
2.2008
3.2008
4.2008
5.2008
6.2008
7.2008
8.2008
9.2008
10.2008
11.2008
12.2008
13.2008
14.2008
15.2008
16.2008
17.2008
18.2008
19.2008
20.2008
21.2008
22.2008
23.2008
24.2008
25.2008
26.2008
27.2008
28.2008
29.2008
30.2008
31.2008
32.2008
33.2008
34.2008
35.2008
36.2008
37.2008
38.2008
39.2008
40.2008

 

[carcharias]

I swear this is about the 967th thread on this topic.

What would be your top 5 of the top 5 threads?

 

[Danish]

The first 4 are for obvious reasons given they are all wins by my team...

1. 2013 - Quality game that was still a contest till the last 10 mins. Fitting end to a very high standard year for the NRL

2. 2018 - Absolutely clinical disposal of an excellent Storm side. Somehow having Easts actually be the fan favourites after the entire Billy Slater debacle at the judiciary was great too

3. 2002 - First GF win witnessed by me, so that makes it special. The ensuing back to back GF defeats though taints this one a little bit

4. 2019 - Great game and defensive display, made all the better by the tremendous amounts of butthurt displayed by absolutely everyone for months afterwards

5. 1991 - Penrith vs Raiders. Such a high quality game by 2 absolutely star studded lineups. The sheer number of players on the field that day that are still household names and influencing league today is remarkable. Loved the game as a kid, but on each future viewing it becomes all the more impressive.

 

[From Where the Sun Rises]

I will stick to deciders from the NRL era until present since this is only a Top 5 list & competition is too stiff, though I do have a bit to say about a few pre-1998 GF’s I will mention at the end.

1. Panthers 18 Roosters 6 (2003)

-I hate to say it because we were on the losing end, but there’s never been a more exciting or brilliant GF than 2003, IMO. A magnificent performance from both sides to the end - if only Freddy had been fit, perhaps things would’ve turned out differently.

2. Roosters 26 Sea Eagles 18 (2013)

-What a mockery these two teams made of neutral complaints that this would be a decider no one cared about. These two had already fired their warning shot for a great Grand Final in Week One of the Semis, & there’s almost nothing the match didn’t have. Jennings’ miracle four-pointer was as sweet a cherry atop a flawless match as anyone could’ve asked for. I was shaking so much I dry-reached in the toilet when Matai scored.

3. Sharks 14 Storm 12 (2016)

-Even as a neutral I found myself shaking in the final few minutes of this one. The final passage of play was almost as intense as the finish to the 2015 GF, & the rest of the match was of an overall higher quality than that game. This is also surely the GF which went on the longest after the full-time siren. The Storm had a chance to win it for what felt like a full minute after the bell. Fantastic stuff.

4. Roosters 14 Raiders 8 (2019)

-A funny thing happened to me during the second half of this match - I recalled a conversation I’d had with a Raiders-supporting mate the week of the 2018 GF. I told him whatever happened, he would never, ever see the Raiders win a GF in his lifetime. Then, this happened just twelve months later. An almost perfect pitch battle from start to finish, I’ll never forget it.

5. Cowboys 17 Broncos 16 (2015)

-Although this was overall a great Grand Final, & deeply satisfying to me personally (I’d waited my whole life to watch the Broncos filth lose a decider), I do think it’s over-rated by people. It was a scintillating first half & a once-in-a-lifetime conclusion, but it can’t be glossed over that the entire second half (nearly 50% of the contest) was a fairly dull slog. Still an overall great one, just not quite as perfect as people suggest.

Just missing out:

Storm 20 Dragons 18 (1999).

-So far as I’ve been able to determine, the biggest comeback ever in a GF, & neck & neck with 2015 for the greatest finish to a GF ever witnessed. There were some great periods of play, but just a few too many dull patches to quite take up a Top 5 spot.

I want to say something perhaps controversial. The 1989 GF just isn’t anywhere near as great as people say for mine. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but it wouldn’t be close to #1 IMO. I also do not consider the 1997 GF - that was a very, very exciting match, but the Knights abused PED’s to achieve that result & nobody talks about it. That takes it out of the equation for me.

 

[mongoose]

2004 is an underrated grand final. Both teams were very hateable at the time though so people ignore it. Really high quality game though.

 

[King hit]

2004 is an underrated grand final. Both teams were very hateable at the time though so people ignore it. Really high quality game though.

This is a game I’ve refused to watch ever since. Brad Fittler is my rugby league hero and deserved to go out a winner. I remember being absolutely shattered for a while after this. I tried to watch it a couple of years ago but could only watch 40 minutes or so.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

This is a game I’ve refused to watch ever since. Brad Fittler is my rugby league hero and deserved to go out a winner. I remember being absolutely shattered for a while after this. I tried to watch it a couple of years ago but could only watch 40 minutes or so.

Go the Broncos

 

[horrie hastings]

This is a game I’ve refused to watch ever since. Brad Fittler is my rugby league hero and deserved to go out a winner. I remember being absolutely shattered for a while after this. I tried to watch it a couple of years ago but could only watch 40 minutes or so.

I refused to go to this game because of the behaviour of a small section of the opposition supporters at the time. Knew this would be the last chance for the Roosters for a long while with the retirement of Brad Fittler and didn’t feel confident after the close win we had over the Cowboys the week before however it turned out to be a very tight game. The jury is still out whether El Masri try was a double movement or not, sometimes I look it at I think it’s fine and other times I think double movement, the one thing though Shannon Hegarty should have played to the whistle because he could have stopped the second movement of the ball instead of thinking play had stopped. Also that day it could have been victory for Easts in all three grades with them winning the two lower grades earlier. I felt empty after this game.

 

[From Where the Sun Rises]

I refused to go to this game because of the behaviour of a small section of the opposition supporters at the time. Knew this would be the last chance for the Roosters for a long while with the retirement of Brad Fittler and didn’t feel confident after the close win we had over the Cowboys the week before however it turned out to be a very tight game. The jury is still out whether El Masri try was a double movement or not, sometimes I look it at I think it’s fine and other times I think double movement, the one thing though Shannon Hegarty should have played to the whistle because he could have stopped the second movement of the ball instead of thinking play had stopped. Also that day it could have been victory for Easts in all three grades with them winning the two grades earlier. I felt empty after this game.

Back to back losses but we got what we deserved in 2018-19.

 

[horrie hastings]

Back to back losses but we got what we deserved in 2018-19.

2003 didn’t upset me so much, Penrith were on that night and deserved the win, 2004 still leaves me empty. Roosters should have had more to show from that golden era from the late 90s to 2004.

 

[From Where the Sun Rises]

what "adversity" did the chooks have last year? They've been blessed for years.

You wouldn’t say the Grand Final was won under adverse conditions? In the sense that we were shut out of possession for a long period of the second half, consequently made mountains more tackles, & - rightly or wrongly - were a star man down for ten of the game’s more crucial minutes.

 

[From Where the Sun Rises]

Busting the myth of the 89 GF which was just replayed on Kayo. The Tigers were awful in attack in the first half, and most of the game. When Bill Harrigan wasn't nitpicking and blowing a penalty against them they either dropped it, kicked it on the 2nd tackle or threw it over the sideline. 2003 was a great quality game in the wet and far superior, among many others.

It’s a great GF, but very, very over-rated.

 

[King hit]

You wouldn’t say the Grand Final was won under adverse conditions? In the sense that we were shut out of possession for a long period of the second half, consequently made mountains more tackles, & - rightly or wrongly - were a star man down for ten of the game’s more crucial minutes.

Canberra actually win if BJ isn’t stupid and passes or if they score with an extra man on the field. I will forever stand by that.

 

[From Where the Sun Rises]

Canberra actually win if BJ isn’t stupid and passes or if they score with an extra man on the field. I will forever stand by that.

When was that moment? 60-65 min mark?

A long way to go if so.

 

[horrie hastings]

When was that moment? 60-65 min mark?

A long way to go if so.

At the 67 min mark Roosters get the penalty for a tackle on Keary just after they recieved a repeat set close to the line which all started a minute earlier by a great bust up the middle by SST, of course the only option was to take the shot at goal but i reckon the Roosters were building at that stage after doing a lot of defending and probably would have scored and closed the game out if they didn't get the penalty, just my opinion though.

 

[horrie hastings]

When was that moment? 60-65 min mark?

A long way to go if so.

Was between the 59th and 60th minute mark just before Cronk was due to come back onto the field from the sin binning.

 

[From Where the Sun Rises]

Pretty gutsy call to rule a side like the Roosters out with 20 to go. Doubly so with a margin of just4-6.

 

[crocodile]

5 best grand finals:
1 to 4 - the 4 Eels wins.
5 - Any that Manly lost.