Well the season is done and dusted for another year, here are the talking points from the 2017 NRL Grand Final.
Super Storm
Have we seen a better club team than the 2017 Melbourne Storm? Not in recent memory, that's for sure. After dominating the regular season, some were questioning the Storm’s form through their two finals appearances, but order was restored on Sunday night. It's difficult to find a weakness in this team. Their back five has speed and power, their forwards are workhorses with some flair, and their spine speaks for itself. With Craig Bellamy steering the ship and Cameron Smith demanding excellence from all his troops, they must be a nightmare to coach against. It has been a privilege to watch them this year, and there has rarely been a more deserving champion than this team.
Cowboys shot down
The Cowboys’ brave finals run came to end on the weekend, but we should take nothing away from their outstanding efforts. The run of injuries they have been dealt is almost unbelievable, and it continued only 4 minutes into the match when Shaun Fensom went down with a horrific broken leg. Just as we thought, when these brave,emotional runs hit a wall, they hit it hard, and Melbourne were clinical enough to make them pay. Michael Morgan will surely continue his rise by taking Johnathan Thurston's Australian jersey, and a number of others have seen their stocks rise as well. You can't help but admire what Paul Green and his men have achieved this year.
Moments of brilliance
There wasn't so much a crucial moment in the grand final, more a series of brilliant moments that the Storm laid on to skip away. They are a team that can get in the grind with their opponents, then blow them away with an Addo-Carr break out or Vunivalu leap. And so it was Sunday night. The backrow provided their fair share of brilliance, with Felise Kaufusi, Tohu Harris and Dale Finucane all either scoring or laying on tries. Of course, Billy Slater, the Clive Churchill medalist, was as good as ever, scoring one try and having a hand in a couple more. Their was just too much fire power for the undermanned North Queenslanders.
The big three
There's not much else to say about the combination of Smith, Cronk and Slater and what they have achieved in the game. We've never seen a better spine play together at club level, and Smith and Slater in particular will go down as the greatest ever in their positions. We still don't know what Cronk’s plans are for next year, but it is almost impossible to imagine him playing against his great mates. The premiership is a fitting finale for a stellar career, and surely he is odds-on to retire. Slater is also still coy about his future, but he is in such great physical shape and form that there is no doubt he could run around again. As for Smith, at 34 and having won his second Dally M medal, he is playing better than ever. Retirement is not even on the cards for him at this stage. Just imagine how much young Brodie Croft will learn from Smith over the next couple of years. The transition may well be smoother than we all thought,and that's a bit scary.
What's next?
Attention now turns to the World Cup. Australia's squad will be announced later in the week, and the premiers will be well represented. On top of the usual suspects, it appears Kaufusi and Jordan McLean will earn deserved call ups. Elsewhere, Tom Trobjevic is tipped to make the cut after his outstanding season, and surely an Origin debut awaits next year. It will also likely be our last chance to watch the big three play together, something we should relish while we have the opportunity.
Words: Cameron Stokes
