2018 NRL Grand Final - Roosters vs Storm

[ChewThePhatt]

BP. Welcome home
:)

 

[Alec]

Shady's back

 

[broncos4life]

A quality performance from the Roosters.

I was trying to envision a version of events where they'd prevail and that's exactly how it played out. That opening twenty minutes was always going to be vital and the Roosters did well to identify and execute. Years ago I remember the media, specifically Joey made the point of beating Melbourne was through second phase and ball movement. It sounded right at the time, but Cronulla showed that if you can bully their back three into error and constantly win the territory battle it will go a long way to winning you the game. Warea-Hargreaves especially seemed to make it his mission to go after Addo-Carr, which is why they went face-to-face at the death.

Gould kept trying to make the point that Cronk was a glorified trainer on the field, but it was completely dishonest. His two kicks were vital plays in the context of the game as they delivered results for the Roosters and gave them the opportunity to score points. Would O'Sullivan have been able to execute those plays at that stage of the game? Unlikely and Matterson wasn't particularly known for his bombs.

Even so, I couldn't believe the defensive play from Vunivalu on the first try. You wouldn't want to give Maranta that amount of space, let alone Daniel Tupou. It really goes to show how much that Cordner, Teddy and Mitchell combination had the Storm defensive line spooked.

The other baffling moment was the Storm's refusal to target Cooper Cronk. Slater admitted in the post-match interview with 9 they were surprised to see him out there, but surely you'd just set up camp down that fringe and make their players come up with second and even third efforts? They just kept persisting with those right hand-side plays through out and by the time they got to Cronk, they were already 18 points down. It's why I don't buy into this narrative of there being bad blood, Cameron Smith deliberately kept avoiding Cronk, their little BDSM play on the ground was simply a reminder of simpler times when they'd practice their wrestling.

How much of a dill does Rusty Crowe look like now? Sure, Souths had a surprisingly good season, but Luke Keary has been one of the best five eighths in the competition ever since he left and has now become a common denominator in two premiership wins. He got the scoring started for Souths way back when and he was virtually everywhere on Sunday night.

Finally, it was sad to see Slater go out on that note. Many will say he was lucky to even be playing, but after all the talk to be on the end of such a convincing defeat was so deflating. I'm sure Billy will go home, look at the 2018 Wally Lewis Medal, the 2017 premiership, the 2017 Origin series and the 2017 World Cup - all accolades he should never have been in earshot of after 2016, and cry himself to sleep. He may have broken the Broncos time and time again, but he was a fantastic ambassador for the code and he rose above an incredible class of fullback to be the best I've ever seen. Fox Sports could do worse than put together an entire collection of his highlights.

I’ve missed this. Feels right.