The last NRL club to win back-to-back grand finals was Brisbane in 1992-93. And they were some footy side. Coached by Wayne Bennett, they trotted out an Origin-strength XVII including Allan Langer, Steve Renouf, Willie Carne, Glenn Lazarus, Kevin and Kerrod Walters, Trevor “The Axe” Gillmeister, Chris Johns and Julian O’Neill.
But they still had to come from fifth in ’93 to do it. And they did need to be lucky enough to (again) front a Dragons side whose firepower featured stick-legged wing Ian “Chook” Herron and Graeme “The Penguin” Bradley whose sole job in the centres was to test Renouf’s dodgy jaw. Which he failed to accomplish.
Since then we’ve had a few what could be called “mini-dynasties” without a team going back-to-back.
Melbourne Storm have been closest, albeit with a club roster that needed two sets of books to fit in Greg Inglis, Israel Folau, Cooper Cronk, Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Ryan Hoffman, Adam Blair, Matt King, Michael Crocker, Jeff Lima, Jeremy Smith and Matt Geyer. And there were others. Good ones.
Storm reached the decider four years in a row, 2006-09, winning (the match if not the gong) in ’07 and ’09. Then came the trouble in 2010 and they played a season for zero points. They were minor premiers in 2011 but knocked out in the preliminary final, before vindication, of sorts – winning legally in 2012.
But back-to-back, even with all that illicit firepower, they could not go.
Des Hasler’s Sea Eagles made the decider three years straight (’95-’97) in the middle of the fractious and not very super Super League years for one premiership.
Ricky Stuart’s Roosters held aloft one very heavy trophy bearing the likeness of Norm Provan hugging Arthur Summons in the middle of their club’s mini-dynasty between 2001-03. And didn’t they have some players: Brad Fittler, Craig Fitzgibbon, Craig Wing, Anthony Minichiello, Adrian Morley, Bryan Fletcher and you’d be leaving out a few including Brett Mullins who was on the wing.
But back-to-back? No. And so to season 2017 and recent history tells us that the Sharks will not win the 2017 premiership. Let us count the ways.
The great mini-dynasties – Brisbane (‘92-’93), Roosters (’01-’03), Manly (’95-’97) – all kept their best players. The greater nucleus of their squad, their spines, their star-power, hung around.
The Brisbane teams that contested the ’92 and ’93 grand finals were identical bar one spot on the bench: Peter Ryan the first year, Tony Currie the next. And that’s it. The backline was identical. The forward pack swapped Mark Hohn and Gavin Allen starting and bench. Bennett calmly oversaw it all.
As for the longer dynasties, their success begat success. Players came to them. It was dodgy how they could fit them in but Storm in ’06-’12 (and arguably going still) and the Canberra Raiders of ’87-’94 not only kept their best players, they added very good ones.
The Raiders of ’94 had added David Furner, John Lomax, Quentin Pongia, Mullins and Ken Nagas to the nucleus of champions Mal Meninga, Brad Clyde, Ricky Stuart and Laurie Daley.
And that mob did go back-to-back in ’89 and ’90, and made four grand finals, and the finals every year until Super League came along. But that was a dynasty.
Cronulla, meanwhile, have lost players. Two of their best: fullback Ben Barba is off to France and hooker and middle-man manager Mick Ennis is off to the media. In their place are workhorse Panthers big man Jeremy Latimore and crazy-horse Bulldogs enigma Tony Williams, fine footy players for sure – but spinal cord members they are not.
In 2016 the Sharks welcomed James Maloney and Chad Townsend, their six and seven. The year before it was Ennis, Barba and the super utility Jack Bird. They built better. This year, not so much.
The Roosters went into 2014 with many pundits predicting – from a look at their roster, which is effectively the only data set one can hold a looking glass upon – they had the best chance of going back-to-back since those Broncos of the previous millennia.
They had lost only the often-penalised meat axe Luke O’Donnell and the bench forward Martin Kennedy. They added Remi Casty (from Catalans), Jackson Hastings (Dragons) and Heath L’Estrange (Bradford). Contracts were signed by Anthony Minichiello, Mitchell Pearce, Daniel Tupou, Mitch Aubusson, Daniel Mortimer, Frank-Paul Nuuausala and a certain Sonny Bill Williams.
And they hummed on into 2014 and finished minor premiers. They lost their qualifying final by a point to Penrith Panthers, then won their semi-final against North Queensland 31-30 after leading 30-nil before half-time. A 76th minute Maloney field goal stayed the execution that would follow next week when they faced Souths who had run third, beaten Manly and had a break.
And there died Rooster dreams. In late 2015 they punted Maloney to the premiers, Sonny Bill took off and they’ve been middling ever since.
North Queensland Cowboys entered 2016 with, just like the Roosters before them, strongly tipped to emulate the Broncos. They had lost only the workhorse forward Glenn Hall. Yet they hadn’t grown and they didn’t add strength. Shaun Hudson came from Gold Coast Titans and Jahrome Hughes from Townsville Blackhawks. Hudson didn’t get on the park. Hughes played one game and signed for Storm in June.
Six of their players were bashed around in State of Origin, including their seemingly bash-proof champion Johnathan Thurston. They still finished fourth, a points-differential decision over their fellow grand finalists Brisbane Broncos who also had six Origin-battered players.
In the first final the Cows were beaten up by Melboune Storm at AAMI Park. The next one they tipped out the Broncos 26-20 in Townsville. And in week three they limped on down to Sydney and were rissoled by the premiers.
Souths’ defence of their title in 2015 began by losing Sam Burgess to Bath and Ben Te’o to Leinster. Souths finished seventh. And that’s all they’d probably like to remember about that. They did win the Auckland Nines, though.
And here we are. The Sharks defending the indefensible.
Or is it? They do have James Maloney still, and he’s a fun running gun. Valentine Holmes always wanted to play fullback and now gets his chance. Jack Bird will improve again. And to the meat of their forward pack comes Jeremy Latimore and Tony Williams.
But Paul Gallen and Luke Lewis are blown calf from limping 26 rounds. And they’ll be hard marked and studied by all the other clubs. And history is against them. And they haven’t built on their success. Had they hung onto Ennis and Barba, you could say they were par, another top four chance and from there who knows.
But these Sharks? History tell us it’s going to be difficult to go back-to-back.
