The Most Memorable NRL Grand Final Rematches
The first grand final rematch of the NRL season is invariably one of the most hyped games of the home-and-away program.
Early-season rust, among other factors, dictate that the fixture often fails to live up to the fanfare – but its also produced moments and matches that have become embedded in premiership folklore.
Ahead of Friday’s showdown between 2021 grand final combatants Penrith and South Sydney, relive the most memorable GF rematches of the NRL era.
‘The Man’ Runs His Mouth (2000)
Anthony Mundine endured one of the all-time rugby league backfires after talking trash in the lead-up to an early-2000 clash with Melbourne Storm, who had edged his St George Illawarra Dragons in the epic 1999 grand final.
Spurred by the outspoken St George Illawarra five-eighth’s pre-match comments that the defending premiers were ‘nothing but pretenders’, the Storm defied an 0-4 start to the season by crushing the Dragons 70-10 in an MCG – equalling the third-highest team score in premiership history.
The Storm ran in 12 tries, while Mundine’s opposing No.6, rookie Tasesa Lavea, racked up 24 points. ‘The Man’ played just five more games in the NRL before sensationally walking out on his team to pursue a boxing career. The Saints missed the 2000 finals.
Twelve-man Chooks Get Revenge On Dogs (2005)
The Bulldogs-Roosters rivalry of the 2000s was fuelled by genuine hate, with the Belmore boys earning the ultimate bragging rights by winning the 2004 grand final.
But the Roosters achieved some retribution in Round 6 the following season, rallying from a 16-0 deficit and overcoming the farcical send-off of enforcer Adrian Morley (who was exonerated by the judiciary) to triumph 29-16.
The Tricolours still trailed by four when Morley was marched for a high tackle early in the second half but scored three unanswered tries to thwart the champs. Neither side reached the 2005 finals, however, in a stunning decline for the undisputed heavyweight clubs of the previous three seasons.
Storm Warning For Broncos (2007)
Darren Lockyer steered Brisbane to a 15-8 upset of runaway minor premiers Melbourne in the 2006 decider, but the Storm wasted little time asserting their ascendancy in the rivalry that continues to this day.
Billy Slater scored two tries, Cameron Smith pulled the strings masterfully and Greg Inglis made a highlight-stacked return from injury in a 28-18 win in Round 7 at Suncorp Stadium that saw the Storm remain unbeaten and consigned the Broncos to a share of last place.
Melbourne went on to eliminate Brisbane from the 2007, 2008 and 2009 finals, while the Storm have won 27 of the archrivals’ 31 matches since the ’06 grand final.
Salary Cap Scandal Lights Powderkeg (2010)
Melbourne’s salary cap scandal – which saw the NRL strip the Storm of their 2007 and ’09 premierships and prevent them from playing for competition points in 2010 – set the scene for an explosive grand final rematch with Parramatta.
Many contended the Eels, who were gallant in their 23-16 loss to the Storm in the previous year’s decider, should have been awarded the 2009 trophy after going down to an illegally-assembled team.
The clubs’ Round 13 encounter inevitably boiled over, with the flashpoint moment a heated scuffle between superstar fullbacks Jarryd Hayne and Billy Slater. Hayne connected with a headbutt on Slater, who responded with a ‘rabbit killer’ punch to the back of Hayne’s head. Both escaped suspension.
But it was the Eels who dominated when the sides settled down to play football, with forwards Tim Mannah, Nathan Hindmarsh and Nathan Cayless laying the platform for a convincing 24-10 victory that will chiefly be remembered for the spite factor.
League Classic at Union HQ (2012)
In the only Round 1 grand final rematch of the NRL era, Manly’s 2012 clash with the Warriors followed a similar script to the decider five months earlier: the Sea Eagles raced out to a big lead before surviving a Shaun Johnson-led comeback.
A 37,502-strong crowd packed into Auckland’s Eden Park on a sun-soaked Sunday afternoon to see the Sea Eagles’ backline brilliance spearhead a 16-0 lead. But the mercurial Johnson – playing just his 17th NRL match – laid on a try for Manu Vatuvei and scored one himself to cut the halftime deficit to six.
A sin-binning and more Johnson-to-Vatuvei magic took the Warriors to within a whisker of the lead before Clive Churchill Medal winner Glenn Stewart’s 72nd-minute try sealed a 26-20 win for the relieved premiers.
Easter Friday Chaos (2015)
Souths’ first showdown with Canterbury since its 30-6 triumph in the 2014 decider doubled as the traditional Eastern Friday fixture between the clubs – but one of the most dramatic grand final matches of all time is destined to be remembered for the wrong reasons.
After seeing their 10-0 lead whittled away, the Bulldogs appeared to have snared a momentous win when Trent Hodkinson snapped a late field goal. But skipper James Graham’s dangerous contact with Adam Reynolds, who was attempting a levelling field goal, drew a penalty with 90 seconds left.
David Klemmer was sin-binned for spraying referee Gerard Sutton, a hysterical Graham was lucky not to join him and Reynolds duly slotted the penalty goal for an 18-17 victory.
In a disgraceful aftermath, the match officials were escorted from the field amid a hailstorm of projectiles thrown by the crowd, with one slipping and breaking his shoulder. Meanwhile, Klemmer and Graham were both handed three-match bans for contrary conduct.
Queenslanders Craft Another Masterpiece (2016)
The 2015 NRL grand final – the first to go to golden point and undoubtedly one of the greatest ever – kick-started a phenomenal streak of epic derbies between Brisbane and North Queensland. The teams squared off in Round 4 of the 2016 season and produced a match befitting the 46,176 attendance at Suncorp Stadium.
Broncos five-eighth Anthony Milford was the star of the show, scoring the first try of the rematch and setting up a runaway try for James Roberts after the Cowboys had snatched the lead for the first time in the 70th minute.
Johnathan Thurston sent the rollercoaster contest into golden point with a penalty goal in the dying seconds, but Milford stepped up to land a stunning 40-metre field goal for a 21-20 victory.
Milford Magic … from 40m out
— NRL (@NRL) March 15, 2018#NRLBroncosCowboys tomorrow night at Suncorp Stadium! #NRL pic.twitter.com/mUwgpMDI3C
Latrell’s Golden Boot (2019)
Another grand final rematch, another golden point session, another 40-metre field goal, another 21-20 result.
Three years after Milford’s strike, Latrell Mitchell was the hero of Sydney Roosters’ eclipse of Melbourne Storm with a booming one-pointer. But that moment of individualism was only the crescendo of a remarkable encounter.
The Roosters had raced out to a 20-0 lead after half an hour of the Good Friday showdown at AAMI Park. The Storm levelled up just 13 minutes into the second half, however, courtesy of three unanswered tries.
The points dried up in the tense and often testy remainder of regulation time before man-of-the-match Mitchell broke the impasse in extra-time.
NRL GRAND FINAL REMATCHES
- 1999: Rd 3 – Bulldogs 20 def Broncos 16 at Stadium Australia
- 2000: Rd 5 – Storm 70 def Dragons 10 at Melbourne Cricket Ground
- 2001: Rd 9 – Roosters 20 def Broncos 18 at Sydney Football Stadium
- 2002: Rd 14 – Knights 28 def Eels 14 at Parramatta Stadium
- 2003: Rd 25 – Warriors 26 def Roosters 24 at Sydney Football Stadium
- 2004: Rd 4 – Panthers 22 def Roosters 6 at Stadium Australia
- 2005: Rd 6 – Roosters 29 def Bulldogs 16 at Stadium Australia
- 2006: Rd 5 – Tigers 32 def Cowboys 12 at Dairy Farmers Stadium
- 2007: Rd 7 – Storm 28 def Broncos 18 at Suncorp Stadium
- 2008: Rd 5 – Storm 26 def Sea Eagles 4 at Olympic Park
- 2009: Rd 8 – Storm 22 def Sea Eagles 8 at Brookvale Oval
- 2010: Rd 13 – Eels 24 def Storm 10 at Parramatta Stadium
- 2011: Rd 7 – Dragons 24 def Roosters 10 at Allianz Stadium
- 2012: Rd 1 – Sea Eagles 26 def Warriors 20 at Eden Park
- 2013: Rd 3 – Storm 22 def Bulldogs 18 at AAMI Park
- 2014: Rd 4 – Sea Eagles 8 def Roosters 0 at Allianz Stadium
- 2015: Rd 5 – Rabbitohs 18 def Bulldogs 17 at ANZ Stadium
- 2016: Rd 4 – Broncos 21 def Cowboys 20 at Suncorp Stadium
- 2017: Rd 6 – Sharks 8 def Storm 2 at AAMI Park
- 2018: Rd 3 – Storm 30 def Cowboys 14 at AAMI Park
- 2019: Rd 6 – Roosters 21 def Storm 20 at AAMI Park
- 2020: Rd 10 – Raiders 24 def Roosters 20 at Sydney Cricket Ground
- 2021: Rd 3 – Panthers 12 def Storm 10 at Panthers Stadium
The post The Most Memorable NRL Grand Final Rematches appeared first on Ladbrokes Blog.
from Ladbrokes Blog https://www.ladbrokes.com.au/blog/2022/03/31/the-most-memorable-nrl-grand-final-rematches/
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