Broncos fullback Reece Walsh‘s epic try-saving tackle on Ryan Papenhuyzen will rightfully go down in NRL grand final folklore. But huge effort plays from Ezra Mam and Brisbane teammate Josiah Karapani to race back in cover defence and cut off the options for Storm forward Eli Katoa were not lost on Broncos coach Michael Maguire.
Melbourne No.1 Papenhuyzen seemed odds-on to score what would have been the grand final-winning try when Katoa looked to have put him through a hole in the dying seconds. But Walsh read the play superbly and got in position to put a huge hit on the Storm fullback, stopping Papenhuyzen in his tracks before diving back on top of the speedster to complete the tackle.
Reece Walsh’s try-saving tackle in the NRL grand final overshadowed huge effort plays from Broncos teammates Ezra Mam and Josiah Karapani. Pic: Nine/Getty
Walsh rightly took the plaudits for the extraordinary play that capped off one of the great grand final performances, culminating in a deserved Clive Churchill Medal. But the work of Broncos teammates Mam and Karapani in the lead-up to the game’s biggest moment can’t be understated.
The pair refused to give up and showed dogged determination to race back and cut off Katoa’s options in attack. Mam was several metres behind Katoa when the Melbourne second-rower busted clear of Gehamat Shibasaki’s attempted tackle and sprinted past halfway. The Brisbane five-eighth had closed the gap by the time Katoa passed and looked to have Papenhuyzen covered if Walsh’s tackle didn’t stick.
Karapani was even more alert in cover defence and tracked Katoa’s run the whole way, making sure he cut off the option to pass to Storm winger Will Warbrick. The Brisbane flyer was close enough to try and tackle Katoa but doing so would have allowed him to send Warbrick clear down the sideline with Walsh in no position to stop the try.
Michael Maguire hails massive effort plays from Broncos
Speaking about the game-defining moment on SEN radio on Tuesday, Maguire admitted his heart rate was through the roof during the dramatic dying stages. The Broncos coach said the Walsh tackle is something that he’ll never forget but was just as thrilled by the huge effort play from his other Broncos stars. He compared it to the epic chase-down play on Nathan Cleary’s attempted field goal in their preliminary final victory over Penrith.
“When Ryan Papenhuyzen came through and Reece crunched the tackle and saved the day, it was a very special feeling,” Maguire said. “They have shown the belief between each other and what they wanted to achieve, the hunger amongst the players, you saw it with Nathan Cleary the week before.
“He was looking to ice the game with a field-goal kick and you had literally three quarters of the team chasing one man down to make sure he wasn’t going to get that kick. Then at the end (of the grand final) it was the same picture with everyone chasing back. It was a special moment.
“What they wanted to achieve was to make sure they won that grand final. We have worked and they have worked extremely hard to get this and they got what they deserved.”
Broncos coach Michael Maguire celebrates Brisbane’s NRL grand final win with his players. Pic: Getty
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The passage of play perfectly summed up what the Broncos were about under Maguire, whose intense focus on fitness paid off at the back-end of the season, despite drawing criticism earlier in the year. The Broncos won 13 of their last 15 games of the season, and scored come-from-behind victories in all three of their finals games, including Sunday’s decider. For Maguire it was further validation about a coaching approach that even he admits can take some adjusting to.
“We had moments through the season – I won’t deny that. I want to push the players to high levels and sometimes it takes time for people to adjust,” Maguire said. “You have to take people out of their comfort zones to get them where they have never been. I’ve worked to push levels, that’s where the belief comes from.
“Players can do a lot more than they believe they can. Fitness is just one part of that. I was really confident in what the players were moving towards. The leaders jumped on board and now they’re the champions of the comp.”