NRL 2021 Grand Final

[Organix]

Have to hand it to Penrith, they've been building for this moment for 10 years and it's finally come their way. They were clearly running on empty with a lot of players carrying significant injuries but on the big occasion they stood up. The kicking game from Cleary and Luai was as good as you'll see and they just kept Souths out of the game.

That's how the game felt to me. Penrith won by keeping Souths out of it, they didn't deal the winning blow it was an intercept from Walker under pressure to conjure up something and backing the wrong horse. Souths showed why they're one of the better attacking teams but they just didn't give themselves enough chance at bat.

In the end, the Panthers' defence was sublime and ultimately the best defence came out over the best attack.

Giant raspberry noises to this.

Penrith were given 6 agains in attacking positions and Rabbits on the first to start the uphill climb. If anything, the Rabbits were the better and fitter team for staying in it as long as they did. The intercept came from tiredness. Penrith were kissed on the peen since the start of last season and the only time I doubted them winning the GF was their loss early in the finals run.

 

[Midean]

Hope those last couple of kicks are not Ben Hunt moments for Reynolds.

 

[BroncosAlways]

Hope those last couple of kicks are not Ben Hunt moments for Reynolds.

I had the same thought mate.

I'm sure he's much more of a competitor though, given his experience he should know just how good he is.

I think that was the difference with Hunt, that make or break moment very much "made" him from there on, unfortunately.

 

[Big Pete]

Giant raspberry noises to this.

Penrith were given 6 agains in attacking positions and Rabbits on the first to start the uphill climb. If anything, the Rabbits were the better and fitter team for staying in it as long as they did. The intercept came from tiredness. Penrith were kissed on the peen since the start of last season and the only time I doubted them winning the GF was their loss early in the finals run.

In fairness Souths were rarely in Penrith's half to earn that type of set restart. I thought the Panthers surprisingly received the majority of the calls but I can't recall any howlers either.

I don't see anything to suggest there was a grand conspiracy at play.

 

[Scorchie]

Hope those last couple of kicks are not Ben Hunt moments for Reynolds.

He’s won one before, won’t hurt as much as Ben will be hurting

 

[Morepudding]

The only one who should feel like Ben Hunt is Cody Walker. Intercept pass and a pass over the sideline. He cost them the game.

 

[BroncosAlways]

I feel like Cleary was always getting the Clive Churchill no matter the result or performance he put in there.

His kicking was exceptional tonight, but hardly a dominant MOTM performance for mine.
As much as wingers don't deserve it, To'o and his metres/energy can't be overstated.

 

[The True King]

I feel like Cleary was always getting the Clive Churchill no matter the result or performance he put in there.

His kicking was exceptional tonight, but hardly a dominant MOTM performance for mine.
As much as wingers don't deserve it, To'o and his metres/energy can't be overstated.

Yeah Cleary is a media darling, he had it from before kick off.

Realistically I think it should have gone to Yeo or Luai.

 

[Foordy]

Giant raspberry noises to this.

Penrith were given 6 agains in attacking positions and Rabbits on the first to start the uphill climb. If anything, the Rabbits were the better and fitter team for staying in it as long as they did. The intercept came from tiredness. Penrith were kissed on the peen since the start of last season and the only time I doubted them winning the GF was their loss early in the finals run.

giving Reynolds a taste of what he will experience in 2022

 

[Sproj]

Nah, it’s just tall poppy syndrome. Cleary deserves it, as does does Penrith and Cleary Snr.

I'm ok with Cleary getting it, he was excellent. I also would have been happy with To'o, Luai, Martin or JFH getting is as well. All of them were immense. Other teams are going to find it tough getting over the top of these guys next year, they still have improvement in them.

 

[broncsgoat]

Nah, it’s just tall poppy syndrome. Cleary deserves it, as does does Penrith and Cleary Snr.

Cleary deserves to be blood eagled on live tv….

 

[Organix]

In fairness Souths were rarely in Penrith's half to earn that type of set restart. I thought the Panthers surprisingly received the majority of the calls but I can't recall any howlers either.

I don't see anything to suggest there was a grand conspiracy at play.

I'm sorry, but I really did call it last year because Penrith have clearly had every advantage given to them throughout the 2 seasons. It's only subtle and small things but they are still things that matter. For example, in the final real attacking set for Souths there was a blatant flop from To'o that was completely ignored, then the pass from Walker was touched and bumped into touch by Cleary and the call was out off Souths and not played at.

It was pretty obvious that Penrith were pencilled in to win the GF this year.

 

[Big Pete]

I'm sorry, but I really did call it last year because Penrith have clearly had every advantage given to them throughout the 2 seasons. It's only subtle and small things but they are still things that matter. For example, in the final real attacking set for Souths there was a blatant flop from To'o that was completely ignored, then the pass from Walker was touched and bumped into touch by Cleary and the call was out off Souths and not played at.

It was pretty obvious that Penrith were pencilled in to win the GF this year.

The only showed the one replay but it appeared that Cleary made contact with the hand and not the ball. Now he may have got a piece of the ball but it wasn't a blatantly obvious call and since Souths threw their challenge away on an interpretive call they denied themselves the opportunity to go through the play with a fine tooth comb.

You don't have to like it, but this Penrith team has been building for 10 years now and they put themselves in a position to win it. I know it would be far more satisfying to suggest there's a huge conspiracy at play and Penrith were given unfair advantages just like Melbourne had in the 00s but on the face of it they just happened to have the best team in 2021.

 

[Morkel]

The only showed the one replay but it appeared that Cleary made contact with the hand and not the ball. Now he may have got a piece of the ball but it wasn't a blatantly obvious call and since Souths threw their challenge away on an interpretive call they denied themselves the opportunity to go through the play with a fine tooth comb.

You don't have to like it, but this Penrith team has been building for 10 years now and they put themselves in a position to win it. I know it would be far more satisfying to suggest there's a huge conspiracy at play and Penrith were given unfair advantages just like Melbourne had in the 00s but on the face of it they just happened to have the best team in 2021.

It's easy to be the best team when you are absolutely gifted advantages. Penrith's wrestle almost out-wrestled the most wrestly wrestlers of the Storm at their worst, flops everywhere and deliberate 2nd and 3rd efforts, allowing them to set their defence and sprint off their line before the tackled player had come close to touching it with their foot. The refs gave 6 agains maybe twice on tackle one and it did nothing to deter them and they knew they could do it all night. There is no way the refs are calling it as they see it, with impartial eyes.

Cleary's blockers were out again tonight, no one was allowed to get near him when kicking. A gigantic 10 metres on their last, forwards ambling sideways in-line with the PTB to block the markers, if you have zero pressure, but more importantly, know you will have zero pressure, kicking to a point is pretty easy.

 

[broncsgoat]

It's easy to be the best team when you are absolutely gifted advantages. Penrith's wrestle almost out-wrestled the most wrestly wrestlers of the Storm at their worst, flops everywhere and deliberate 2nd and 3rd efforts, allowing them to set their defence and sprint off their line before the tackled player had come close to touching it with their foot. The refs gave 6 agains maybe twice on tackle one and it did nothing to deter them and they knew they could do it all night. There is no way the refs are calling it as they see it, with impartial eyes.

Cleary's blockers were out again tonight, no one was allowed to get near him when kicking. A gigantic 10 metres on their last, forwards ambling sideways in-line with the PTB to block the markers, if you have zero pressure, but more importantly, know you will have zero pressure, kicking to a point is pretty easy.

 

[Big Pete]

It's easy to be the best team when you are absolutely gifted advantages. Penrith's wrestle almost out-wrestled the most wrestly wrestlers of the Storm at their worst, flops everywhere and deliberate 2nd and 3rd efforts, allowing them to set their defence and sprint off their line before the tackled player had come close to touching it with their foot. The refs gave 6 agains maybe twice on tackle one and it did nothing to deter them and they knew they could do it all night. There is no way the refs are calling it as they see it, with impartial eyes.

Cleary's blockers were out again tonight, no one was allowed to get near him when kicking. A gigantic 10 metres on their last, forwards ambling sideways in-line with the PTB to block the markers, if you have zero pressure, but more importantly, know you will have zero pressure, kicking to a point is pretty easy.

They're not gifted advantages. Every team has the same opportunity, nobody can keep it up at the pace Penrith can because they have the best kicking game in the competition and the best back three at making metres out of trouble. Souths had every opportunity to bend the rules and they couldn't because they were too exhausted.

 

[Alec]

I'm happy Penrith won. They are what the Broncos are trying to become, a team of rookies who came through the system together. The arrogance doesn't bother me, because we'd love it if the Broncos were like that too, let's not kid ourselves.
Broncos have some quality kids coming through...if they strike gold with some spine players we might be enjoying the same thing too in the future.

 

[Allo]

They're not gifted advantages. Every team has the same opportunity, nobody can keep it up at the pace Penrith can because they have the best kicking game in the competition and the best back three at making metres out of trouble. Souths had every opportunity to bend the rules and they couldn't because they were too exhausted.

Come on Pete. I know you like to stay impartial, but to say that Souths need to bend the rules to win is exactly the issue we all have with Penrith