Another weekend, another cracker. The NRL finals is truly the gift that keeps giving.
Round one had the Raiders v Broncos epic, one of the best knockout ties ever seen in Australia, but it might already have been topped after a bonkers Sunday afternoon that saw Brisbane qualify for the Grand Final, ending the four-year reign of the Panthers in the process.
The Queenslanders lifted themselves from the canvas at half time to turn a 14-0 deficit into a 16-14 win in the most unlikely of circumstances, with Adam Reynolds booting a conversion from the sideline to put them in front for the first time.
They’ll travel to Sydney next week to face Melbourne, who overcame the Sharks on Friday night to qualify for Craig Bellamy’s 11th showpiece in charge of the Storm.
It’s all set for a huge weekend next weekend to round out the year – but before then, let’s look back at the madness that was.
A good week for…
The Broncos, obviously.
Their comeback against the Panthers was one for the ages, returning from 14-0 down at the break to end the dynasty and secure a second Grand Final appearance in three years.
It’s a particularly good week for Michael Maguire, who was brought to the Broncos with the express instructions of going where Kevvie Walters couldn’t and actually getting the Premiership over the line.
One might throw in Adam Reynolds, too. His creaking legs got round one more time, returning from weeks out injured without missing a beat. The halfback landed the crucial kick that got Brisbane in front, as well as setting up the try for Kotoni Staggs that started the comeback.
It’s 2014 all over again, with Madge and Reyno leading a well-supported, success-starved side to the Grand Final. Back then, Souths had the best middle in the game, Sam Burgess – just like the Broncos will next week with Payne Haas.
They had a superstar fullback capable of magic, game-breaking moments, with Reece Walsh now cast in the Greg Inglis role. In 2025, Maguire will be hoping that his magic touch returns again. Taking on the Storm, he’ll need it.
A bad week for…
It has to be the Panthers and Sharks, who reached the end of the road this weekend, but in truth, neither can be too downhearted.
Penrith will be upset that they led as they did and lost, but in the fullness of time, will probably recognise this day as the end of the greatest dynasty in the history of Australian rugby league, and one that had to come at some point.
Yes, St George won more Premierships in the 1960s, but to win four back to back in a salary capped era surely will not be bettered.
Penrith end with the heads held high. This side was already written off as dead midway through this year, but came home with a wet sail and, really, should have won here.
It was poetic that the Bronx finally got their revenge following the 2023 Grand Final comeback, and the Panthers played their part in a classic.
Cronulla were already playing with house money having improved on last year, so should also not be too down.
Though they exit at the same junction, they did so after winning two knockout games and after putting up a much better fight. For a side lacking proper superstars, this was about as good as they could have expected to have done.
Standout…
In a weekend where Jahrome Hughes came back and scored, you might expect it to be him. It also could have been his halfback partner Cameron Munster, who was a constant menace and managed to top the metres chart from five eighth.
Instead, though, it can only be one man – Storm prop Stefano Utoikamanu.
The Samoan international moved to Melbourne to play in games like this, and from the first minute, he looked to the manor born.
Stefano took on Addin Fonua-Blake, the Cronulla big dog, head on and won. He only managed 47 minutes in the middle, but they were the most impactful moments: 15 runs, 24 tackles, four tackle breaks and two offloads.
It’s a cliche to point out that great halfback play requires the middles to lay a platform, and if you wanted an example of it, look no further than Hughes’ try.
Utoikamanu broke a tackle, held off Fonua-Blake, offloaded and, in the process, created the scrambled line and second phase from which the Kiwi halfback could work his magic.
Now, having taken down AFB, Utoikamanu gets the toughest assignment in the prop game – Payne Haas.
Washout…
It has to be referee Ashley Klein, who blew the pea out of his whistle in the first Prelim in Melbourne. There were 18 penalties, 11 of which were before half time, which prevented the game from gaining any momentum at all.
When something like this happens, the ref always cops it for not letting the boys play, when the blame might just as likely lie with the players who refused to play sensibly.
In this case, it seemed a lot of the former. Klein is one of the best refs around and largely gets the big jobs on merit, has form for smothering games like this.
He was in charge of the last finals game with more penalties – Melbourne v Canberra 2019 – and another in the top five, the infamous sinbin Sunday between Souths and the Roosters in 2022. Throw in the 8-0 first half in Origin this year and a pattern develops.
Klein would have been a certainty for the Grand Final gig, having helmed last year’s event plus all three Origins, but now – well, let’s move on.
Everyone is talking about…
Refereeing, and who will take next week’s big showdown.
Klein is no longer a sure thing, but the next man up, Grant Atkins, didn’t exactly cover himself in glory in the second match.
He gave a penalty for the most obvious cannonball tackle of all time in the first half, but no further action, when it has been a bin pretty much all year.
His decision not to bin Nathan Cleary, who appeared to throw a punch at Ezra Mam, or Mam, who threw one back, or especially, Liam Martin, who ran from a long distance to take down Mam, was bizarre.
The sight of Hudson Young, who got ten minutes in the Raiders’ defeat to Brisbane for goading Reece Walsh, sat on the sofa at the Matty Johns Show afterwards while they pored over three far more egregious binnings was hilarious. Consistency, eh?
It’s probably a case of poison-picking for the NRL.
Klein is a lightning rod for criticism, but they like him in the big games because he’s not afraid to take the spotlight – even if that does mean getting in the way at times.
Atkins tends to put the whistle away more, which fans like, but failed to act on the biggest calls in front of him here.
You can expect this to run and run all week – because there’s nothing that anyone likes talking about more than refs.
But nobody mentions…
The Wallabies, who managed to take a gun and aim it at their own foot again this weekend.
The NRL claimed real estate on Friday and Sunday, smartly moving Melbourne’s match to avoid clashing with the AFL Grand Final, then giving the TV networks a surefire ratings success with a 4pm Sunday spot.
The next big event was the Wallabies’ clash with the All Blacks, which they smartly decided to schedule right up against the Aussie Rules showpiece in Melbourne, ensuring that nobody at all watched it.
The AFL Grand Final is usually the top rating TV programme of the year – Origin and the NRL Grand Final fill out the top five – and claimed a huge 80% of the viewing audience.
The AFL averaged 4m nationally, whereas the Wallabies got just 500,000. The game was held in Auckland, so some consideration will have gone into how to manage that with the time zones, but with Saturday night primetime wide open, rugby union missed.
In Australia’s ever-raging code wars, attention will now turn to next week. The NRL has been smashing it in the ratings, and they could not have wished for a better Grand Final.
Melbourne are consistently one of the best drawing teams on TV, and any casual fans south of the Barassi Line now have a team to root for. Brisbane are the biggest drawcard of all, and are underdogs too.
There’s no Sydney team, but Sydney people will watch whoever is playing.
Peter V’Landys loves getting one over on the AFL, so expect him to loudly mention viewing figures if the NRL can top 4m. Origin 3 nearly did, and last year’s event got 3.5m. It’s more than possible.
Forward pass
The Grand Final Day slate is set, with the Broncos-Storm in the Men, Broncos-Roosters in the Women and Burleigh v Warriors in the State Championship.
Eagle-eyed readers might note that it’s a threepeat for the Bronx, as the Queensland Cup champs are a feeder club.
We’ll cover the NRLM in depth later in the week, so let’s swing through the other games now.
The Roosters went 11-0 in the NRLW regular season but were forced to fight for their place in the Grand Final, sneaking past the Sharks thanks to a Jocelyn Kelleher field goal.
The Broncos have only lost once all year and cruised past Newcastle – but that defeat did come to Easts, who won their regular season meeting 30-26 back in Round 3. The Chooks will be slight favourites, but betting against a side with Tamika Upton in it is never a great plan.
In the reggies Grand Final, the Warriors will be favourites. While the Wahs are, obviously, not from NSW, they do compete there and the comp down south is generally stronger.
As a result of the NRL team losing early, established top grade players like Tanah Boyd, Taine Tuaupiki, Bunty Afoa and Freddy Lussick were all able to play in the Kiwi side’s NSW Cup Grand Final victory over St George Illawarra – as did Jett Cleary, Nathan’s younger brother.
Burleigh got past Norths Devils, but are a lot lighter on recognisable names given the more dispersed nature of the feeder systems in the Q Cup. They’ll have Fletcher Baker, ex-Titan Paul Roache and Josh Rogers, who deputised well in the NRL last year.
Both these sides have likely been on the drink all week, however, so anything can happen. It’s usually good fun.