Now the Cowboys come forward to accept their premierships rings, a roar going up with every name called. Thurston and Matt Scott, finally a winner in his 12th season of NRL, come forward and get their hands on the premiership trophy. They lift it high, the streamers stream, the fireworks fire, the players sing about “giving your love to a Cowboy man” and Townsville officially begins the biggest party in its history.
What a night. And what a kind but cruel game this is. Thurston gets his win, Bennett tastes defeat, and it all played out in a few seconds of chaos when the Broncos all but had their winners’ rings on.
I’m spent. Thanks for your company. Until next time.
Updated
A few words from the man of the match:
“I’d like to congratulate the Broncos on a fantastic season. You’ve done your members, your family and your club extremely proud. I want to thank our boys. I wouldn’t be standing here without you. I love you to death. To the fans, the coaching staff, I can’t thank you enough.”
And now the losing — and retiring — captain, Justin Hodges: “Thanks to all the supporters from both teams. Well done to the Cowboys. You’ve been the quality side all year and you’re led by one of the greatest players of all time. To my boys, Wayne, the coaching staff, I love you like brothers. Keep your heads up. You’ll be back next year with that ring. To my family, I love you. To the Broncos fans back home. We’re sorry but this group of men will get it done for you.”
Updated
JOHNATHAN THURSTON WINS CLIVE CHURCHILL MEDAL
How could they not give it to him after his match-winning field goal, and his gut-busting efforts in the final 15 minutes when the Cowboys charged at the Broncos? That said, Milford was the best player on the field tonight and had the Cowboys not scored that late late late try, that incredible try we’ll be replaying for years to come, he would surely have won it.
Updated
Time for a quick recap: Both teams threw the kitchen sink at each other in the opening 40m, with the Broncos heading into the sheds 14-12 up after some scintillating football. The second half lacked tries but was no less pulsating. After the Broncos added a penalty goal early on they went 16-12 ahead and so it stayed until the final seconds. Literally.
Just when it seemed the Broncos’ brilliant defence would secure them victory a last tackle miracle play by the Cowboys ended up in Kyle Feldt scoring in the right corner. Thurston had a kick to win it but hit the post. That meant extra-time. From the kick-off, Ben Hunt dropped it giving the Cowboys the opportunity to win it with a field-goal. They won it with a field-goal. Thurston. Who else?
That was the first golden point grand final in history and it surely must be ranked one of the best grand finals of all time. It’s certainly the best I’ve seen.
Two Indigenous captains. One amazing game! #NRLGrandFinal #IndigenousExcellence
— NCIE (@theNCIE) October 4, 2015
Paul Green is beaming, which comes as no surprise: “This is great for the Townsville community,” he says, though I’m paraphrasing wildly. “We’ve finally brought a premiership home to north Queensland after 20 years of trying. The boys tonight won it but this is for everyone who’s represented the Cowboys and played football in the region.”
As for Thurston? “He is unbelievable.”
Nine’s on-field reporter gets to Thurston amid the mob. He manages “I love these boys” before he loses the power of speech. Now, after a long embrace with the retiring Justin Hodges, he consoles Ben Hunt. Champion.
Bennett, who now knows what it’s like to lose a grand final, is on the field consoling his players. Jack Reed is bawling. A miracle win for the Cowboys but what a tough loss for the Broncos.
Updated
GOLDEN POINT FIELD-GOAL! Broncos 16-17 Cowboys (Thurston 83)
THE COWBOYS WIN! THE COWBOYS WIN! It took four tackles there, as the Broncos raced up to block every field goal attempt. But on the fourth tackle, Thurston stood very deep, received the pass from the dummy half, and nailed it!
He disappears in a mob of teammates as the camera then pans to the forlorn sight of Ben Hunt sitting on the ground. Poor bloke.
The Nine commentary team quietly watch the madness. Then this: “Silence is golden,” says Ray Warren, breaking it.
Updated
EXTRA TIME 81 min: OMG! From the kick-off, Ben Hunt gets under Feldt’s booming strike and he drops it! Right in front of his own posts! Scrum, and Thurston and Coote position themselves for a field goal.
What a finish! But we’re away again...
THURSTON MISSES!
THURSTON’S KICK HITS THE RIGHT UPRIGHT! It was curling back, curling back, and Thurston had his finger in the air but then, donk!, it hit the post! Incredible. Now a two minute spell before two halves of 5m extra time. Golden point extra time, that is.
Updated
80 min: Thurston is taking an age... he started the try-scoring move by doubling back three times on the last before a basketball pass into space. The Cowboys went right, Morgan held the ball in his right hand, passed around the back of two players in an act of brilliance that will define his career and found Feldt who dived over just inside the chalk! Morgan, what a play! And here comes the kick...
Updated
TRY! Broncos 16-16 Cowboys (Feldt 80)
TRY! Thurston to attempt the winning conversion from the right sideline!
80 min: WHAT! A MIRACLE TRY TO THE COWBOYS! YES? NO? FELDT OVER IN THE RIGHT CORNER?
Updated
78 min: Now Thaiday hits Thurston amidships as the Broncos again hold firm! Granville grubbers on the last and a brave dive for the ball from Jack Reed secures possession for the Broncos.
Milford makes a nice break but Feldt comes up with a strip to win the Cowboys the ball back on the halfway line! Less than 60 seconds now.
77 min: Ben Hunt picks up Linnett and spears him into the ground! He’s on report. That was enthusiasm getting the best of him. The penalty sees the Cowboys find touch on the halfway line. And Coote nearly spills the first pass form Granville!
76 min: Milford, taking a leaf out of Bilbo Baggins’ book, robs Lowe’s pocket after the big forward made a good run into the Broncos’ 20m. That’s Milford’s second strip of the night. A few tackles later, McCullough finds touch, 10m out. The Broncos doing all the right things here.
75 min: A breather as Hunt rolls the ball over the sideline, 20m out from the Cowboys’ line. Who is going to hold their nerve here? The Cowboys need a moment of magic. The Broncos know a converted try will secure it.
74 min: Hunt makes a break but no-one is there to back him up. Thurston then cleans up a Broncos kick.
73 min: Thurston angles left 30m out, holds the ball up for his outside runners, and is blindsided by Blair —bam!— before he can make the pass. Anyone having ribs for dinner? Blair just did.
71 min: Boyd, 10m out from his own line, drops a bomb that kept moving away from him. But it’s ruled a knock back, which comes as something of a surprise. Actually, after a replay, the ref may have made the right call.
70 min: Shortly after the drop out a Broncos right-to-left shift forces the issues winding up in Oates overrunning a pass and knocking on in the process. A let-off for the Cowboys.
69 min: The Broncos finally get out of their own half and then get a major break. A somewhat ordinary Hunt grubber is messed up by Feldt who stoops for it but sees it bobble past him. He tracks back to pick it up but is tackled in his own in-goal.
67 min: Oh dear, Linnett spills the ball again 10m out! On the second tackle. Is this game slipping away from the Cowboys? More excellent defence from the Broncos there.
66 min: Less than 15 minutes to go and though we’ve had no tries this half it’s been no less exciting. Cowboys 15m out now, six up their sleeve!
63 min: The Cowboys charge again, Thurston coming into the game knowing we’re getting close to now or never time. Hold the phone! Coote may have scored on the left edge, but was it a double movement?! We’ve gone upstairs...
No try. Coote from a few metres out runs at the line before Gillett hits him on his right hip. Coote hits the deck, his momentum clearly stopped before he reached out to score. Try-saver (match-saver?) by Gillett.
Updated
60 min: The Cowboys hit the Broncos with everything they’ve got, evening winning six more. But the Broncos look like holding them out again until Thurston fires a cut out pass into the path of Linnett, 3m out on the left. If Linnett holds it he scores, but he doesn’t, the ball bouncing off his chest. Paul Green in the coach’s box throws his hands into the air. What a turning point that could be.
Updated
58 min: And they go 70m in five tackles before Thurston comes up with a nice catch in his own in-goal to win his team a 20m restart of their own after a Broncos kick.
The Broncos are looking good at the moment. They have the lead, yes, but they look calm and composed and their defence a moment ago was stifling. But a window opens for the Cowboys. We have a Broncos drop-out after a Thurston grubber on the fourth tackle catches Boyd off-guard.
Updated
56 min: O’Neill and Milford contest a bomb in the Broncos in-goal. The ball falls to the ground and Boyd watches it roll dead. The ref calls a drop-out but on checking the replay a knock on by “O’Neill is evident. So the Broncos will take a 20m tap.
55 min: Morgan held up on tackle one! It followed Oates spilling a Morgan cross-kick. But the Broncos defence here is smothering.
52 min: A big charge from Joe Ofahengaue gets the Broncos on the front foot. But Reed comes to a crashing halt on the next tackle, running into O’Neill.
50 min: Cooper should have passed there. He had 2 v 1 on his outside 30m out. On the last Boyd outleaps Coote and after Boyd hits the deck Coote lands on him like a safe dropped out of a window. It caused a mild kerfuffle because Coote’s elbow was close to Boyd’s chin but no penalty is forthcoming.
The crowd: 82,758. That’d be a full-house wouldn’t it?
48 min: Silkier than a fancy blouse, Milford is causing the Cowboys all sorts. And he wins another set after his grubber is touched by the Cowboys before the Broncos regather. The Broncos head right but a big Thurston tackle on Reed, I think, prompts a turnover.
Updated
46 min: Critical period here for the Cowboys who won’t want to fall any further behind. It makes every set working out from their own line rather dicey. Don’t drop it! They drop it! Morgan it was, right on the halfway line.
45 min: The Cowboys work it out from their own line, Hannant rumbling into his former teammates like a steamroller with the handbrake off. But they are too far out and Thurston puts up a deep high kick that Kahu takes safely 20m out from his own line.
Penalty goal! Broncos 16-12 Cowboys (Kahu 43)
And the young man makes no mistake.
Updated
42 min: Try-saving tackle by Morgan on Jack Reed who was put into a half gap by Milford’s card-shark pass. Any slacking by Morgan then and Reed would have been over. A penalty follows for Morgan not releasing Reed fast enough (even though Reed was injured in the tackle and not about to get up). Kahu (not Parker, who’s off the field) will take the shot at goal from 10m left of the uprights.
41 min: The Broncos win an early penalty after a Thurston kick ricochets off a Bronco and is picked up by Rory Kostjasyn (who was in front of Thurston).
Peeeep!
The Broncos get us underway: 40 minutes left in the season, everything to play for. Yes, even those ugly rings.
As the players come back on to the field Ray Warren informs us that Brisbane have led 16 times at halftime this year and been beaten just once. I think the Cowboys can do it, however. They’ve shown a tad more control than Brisbane, whose tries have been more opportunistic.
Tallis is saying the Cowboys forwards look “gassed” — just as Fittler reminds us that the Cowboys are the best second-half side in the competition, in terms of average points scored. If the Cowboys forwards are struggling you can be sure Milford will find a way through. Ben Hunt has been relatively quiet, but he’s time yet to make his mark.
What to make of that half of football that has flown by? That league is a wonderful game when two teams play without fear, with intent to win even if it means taking a risk. Both sides have had periods where they’ve looked in control but no sooner do they look like consolidating their position than the other team hits back. Some brilliant long-range tries, and close-in sniping, and it’s just that opening penalty goal by Parker that separates the two teams at the moment.
Half-time: Broncos 14-12 Cowboys
What a thrilling half of football. All we could have expected.
Updated
40 min: The Cowboys charge forward with some fast play the balls, and with the hooter about to sound Gavin Cooper kicks ahead. Danger looms for the Broncos but Anthony Milford catches a wicked bounce and runs the ball over his own dead-ball line.
39 min: Hunt just boots the ball into touch on the last, 20m out. Odd, that. Why not hoist it? Surely the Broncos would be happy with a lottery try in the shadows of half time.
37 min: The Cowboys go 60m after Thurston slices the Broncos’ right-side defence apart and finds O’Neill, who is nabbed 30m out. The Cowboys go right through Morgan but can’t make headway. On the last Thurston kicks high for Winterstein’s wing but Kahu climbs high on his line.
CONVERSION! Broncos 14-12 Cowboys (Parker)
And now the Broncos are back in front.
TRY! Broncos 12-12 Cowboys (Reed 36)
Not according to the video ref! The Broncos are back and it’s the Cowboys’ talisman who must foot the blame. Thurston, it must be said, didn’t claim he was stripped.
Updated
33 min: Tackle stats in opposition 20m is 8-all at this point.
What’s this? Thurston spills the ball 30m out from his own line! The Broncos pick up through Gillett and the ball winds up with Reed who holds off the tackle of Coote to score! But we’ve gone back to a replay. Gillett may have helped Thurston lose that...
31 min: Brisbane are awarded a penalty 10m out right in front after Tamou mimics a walrus sunning itself on the tackled player. But the Broncs elect to play on. McCullogh cuts through but fails to use Parker who is free on his left! Parker would have been over under the posts had McCullough not dummied and gone himself!
29 min: A big opportunity for Brisbane, starting a full set 20m out after an accidental offside following a charge down.
28 min: Thurston finds touch 20m out with a grubber, increasing the sense that the Cowboys now have control. The ballboys won’t be happy:
Lovely story. The two ball boys on the eastern side of #NRLGF are Wayne Bennett's grandsons. @smh
— OzRepublic FitzSimon (@Peter_Fitz) October 4, 2015
CONVERSION! Broncos 8-12 Cowboys (Thurston)
JT stretches the lead to four points. They are looking good now.
TRY! Broncos 8-10 Cowboys (Tamou 26)
For the first time tonight the Cowboys are in front, having weather that lightning start from Brisbane. It was almost too easy. At dummy-half, a few metres out, Granville passes left across the face of Ben Hannant and Tamou catches, spins out of Thaiday’s tackle, and falls over the line.
Updated
24 min: Six more to the Cowboys 10m out after a Thurston grubber is played at.
22 min: The Cowboys are going right more often than not. Thurston flattened after putting up a high ball. Was he hit late? Apparently not. The game has settled somewhat after that whirlwind start, and it appears to me that the Cowboys are now enjoying the better of the game.
I'll say it again, @nthqldcowboys are making their meters way too easily. Turnover on Broncos 10m #NRLGF
— Nehad Kenanie (@nehadk) October 4, 2015
20 min: Big run from Tamou who reverses 15m with Blair and Thaiday hanging off him like killer Care Bears. Morgan spills the pill 10m out from the Broncos’ line.
18 min: After a penalty the Cowboys go 80m before Winterstein is bundled over 10m out. A minute later, up the other end now, Hunt spills an easy pass, 20m out.
16 min: Brilliant action, here, more of it I should say! Milford busts straight through 50m out, dummies beautifully to beat Coote but is rounded up 10m out just as he throws the ball back to Reed. But the Cowboys recover. This is electric. Both sides are damning the torpedos!
13 min: And it nearly got more extraordinary with Feldt tackled into touch a metre out after the Broncos didn’t contest a Thurston bomb and Coote found O’Neill who got the ball to Feldt on the right touchline 10m out. A try-saver from Oates (who may have been the Bronco that didn’t contest that bomb).
CONVERSION! Broncos 8-6 Cowboys (Thurston)
And JT adds the extras. What an extraordinary start to this game.
TRY! Broncos 8-4 Cowboys (O'Neill 11)
Blimey, the Cowboys strike straight back! After the scrum Granville, in the lock position, picks up the ball, runs left, dummies left, and sneaks through McCullough and Parker, before finding O’Neill backing up on his inside!
Updated
10 min: An error. The Broncos knock on 20m out.
CONVERSION! Broncos 8-0 Cowboys (Parker)
Coates ran it around when he scored leaving Parker with an easy shot. What a start for the Broncos. It’s like the Roosters all over again.
TRY! Broncos 6-0 Cowboys (Oates 7)
The Broncos go 90m from the restart! Blair slips a lovely offload as he falls, Milford catches it and shifts left. He finds Reed, Reed gets outside of Coote and passes to Oates on his left, and the lanky winger runs 60m to score!
Updated
Penalty goal! Broncos 2-0 Cowboys (Parker 6)
Parker’s kick veers left but swings back to give the Broncos the early lead.
5 min: Penalty to Brisbane; holding down in the tackle. Is 42m out too far to attempt a penalty goal? No. Corey Parker will have a shot. The Broncos clearly value getting in front.
4 min: A half-break there from the Cowboys after Granville scooted down the blind and found Morgan who spilled the ball under pressure, 40m out from the Broncos’ line.
2 min: Granville tackles Adam Blair, and it’s like a hair-off, two magnificent mops coming together.
1 min: Feldt is in the action again, catching the Broncos’ last tackle kick. The crowd are roaring like an angry ocean. As much as you can tell from your tele, the atmosphere is stonking.
Peeeeeeeep!
Kyle Feldt boots the ball very, very high, but it’s taken safely and the Broncos start their first set, running left to right on my picture.
Jessica Mauboy is singing the anthem, and not making it sound like a dirge, and Thurston is smiling as if he’s just remember something funny. He looks relaxed.
Positions, everyone, the curtain is about to go up! Cowboys to kick off.
Looking like a full house, so haters must be hating somewhere else. The teams are on their way out!
Correspondence from Christopher in Darwin: “Nine simulcasting the game in HD. The 21st Century has finally arrived!
Updated
Scheduled kick-off time has come and gone. But no-one really expected it to kick-off on time, did they? Anyway, the teams are making their last minute preparations which include time-honoured group hugs, and last minute instructions.
"They pull together and say this is the moment" #NRLGF #WWOS pic.twitter.com/tbDgAIJZGZ
— Wide World of Sports (@WWOS9) October 4, 2015
One last speech from Wayne Bennett! #NRLGF #WWOS pic.twitter.com/1CC2ZRWkux
— Wide World of Sports (@WWOS9) October 4, 2015
Updated
In all the Chisel-related excitement I forgot to give you the teams. Here they are. No late changes:
Broncos
Darius Boyd, Corey Oates, Jack Reed, Justin Hodges (c), Jordan Kahu, Anthony Milford, Ben Hunt, Sam Thaiday, Andrew McCullough, Adam Blair, Alex Glenn, Matt Gillett, Corey Parker. Interchange: Jarrod Wallace, Mitchell Dodds, Joe Ofahengaue, Kodi Nikorima
Cowboys
Lachlan Coote, Kyle Feldt, Justin O’Neill, Kane Linnett, Antonio Winterstein, Michael Morgan, Johnathan Thurston (c), Matthew Scott (c), Jake Granville, James Tamou, Gavin Cooper, Ethan Lowe, Jason Taumalolo. Interchange: Rory Kostjasyn, John Asiata, Scott Bolton, Ben Hannant
Updated
And Chisel wrap it up. Perfect set for the occasion.
#NRLGF Whoever came up with the idea for the moshpit for the pre game entertainment deserves a medal #genius
— crowdiegal (@crowdiegal) October 4, 2015
Twitter is loving Cold Chisel, with only a few detractors (the old chestnut about Barnsey screaming, not singing!). Mossy and Barnsey are now tearing Bow River a new one (tributary, that is)!
Grandads rock!
Leo rocking out to his Da #NRLGF @Channel9 @NRL @coldchisel @JimmyBarnes pic.twitter.com/GpjiMESPpe
— David Campbell (@DavidCampbell73) October 4, 2015
So what are the two teams playing for tonight? Besides glory? A $10,000 piece of bling that reeks of the National Football League. You know, our man Jarryd’s employers. If I won the grand final I’d ask the NRL if it would be OK for not get me a ring and give me $10,000 in cash instead. Or $10,000 in book vouchers. Or hot chips.
For Johnathan Thurston, winning a premiership ring in next Sunday’s grand final against Brisbane would hold extra significance. The North Queensland co-captain won a grand final with Canterbury in 2004 after earning a late bench spot. But he then gave his ring to regular Bulldogs captain Steve Price, who had missed the day through injury. While then-coach Steve Folkes passed on his own keepsake – and a replica was made for Thurston a decade later – Sunday presents an opportunity for the Queensland and Australian playmaker to earn a ring he can truly call his own.
FIRST ON #9NewsAt6: Take a look at the coveted 2015 #NRLGF premiership ring. @DaltsWorld has this story. pic.twitter.com/vGLRihOSbu
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) September 28, 2015
Updated
An email!
And it comes from “El Rey” who is doing the newspapers’ job for them:
Possible headlines tomorrow:
Cowboys Too Thursty For Broken Broncos
Hunt For Reed October
Monday I’ve Got Thaiday On My Mind
Broncos Boyd By Victory
Great Scott!
More on Chisel, who have moved on to Flame Trees. A little contemplative and plaintive, perhaps, but a cracking song all the same.
Updated
Who wants Meat Loaf? Not us. Australian rock legends Cold Chisel are on stage! Barnsey is all in black with knee-length fetish-cum-motorcycle boots on. Lots of zippers. His gravelly voice is as gravelly as ever. What have they opened with? Our national anthem, no less:
Mossy solo! Mossy solo!
Roy & HG are commentating the game on ABC should you feel like a break from Channel Nine’s team who, as you may not know, will be down one Andrew Johns after he got himself into a pickle at Toowoomba airport.
Anyway, here’s where to find Roy and HG.
Updated
Sterlo catches up with Wayne Bennett outside the Broncos’ rooms:
“I’m really happy with the preparation,” says Bennett, aiming for his 8th (solo coaching) title in the NRL. “We’ve had a couple of injuries that won’t stop anyone playing tonight, and it won’t impact on us at all.”
On Thurston: “He’s their best player by a street. The last three weeks he’s had a hand in 11 of their 15 tries. Weve got a plan [to deal with him] and hopefully we can carry it out throughout the game.”
And after his words we cross to the Cowboys’ dressing room where Thurston sits shirtless, his angel wings tattoo bold across his back.
Thurston's massive angel wings on his back are seriously the worst tattoos in the history of mankind #NRL #tattoo pic.twitter.com/HEHghElQaX
— NRL Fanatic (@NRL_Fanatic) September 26, 2015
The boot-scooters are filling the ground, it seems:
It's been a while since I've seen this many cowboy hats #NRLGF pic.twitter.com/KLqadT03yz
— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottliebFOX) October 4, 2015
But are they all northern Queenslanders? I think it’s safe to say that the majority of today’s crowd, the ones not from Brisbane or thereabouts, will be supporting the Cowboys. Due to their very successful past, their association with the Maroons, and Justin Hodges, New South Welshmen-and-women, I venture, find the Broncos much easier to hate than the Cowboys who have been in the competition since 1995 and won the same number of premierships as the Cronulla Sharks. Which is to say, none. So the Cowboys it is.
Updated
On the field at the moment a number of retiring (or Super League-bound) players are being introduced to the crowd, and they are lined up on the stage in suits. I would make a gag about a police line-up here, but I won’t. Here’s the run-down of the talent leaving the game, courtesy of the NRL. We wish them well:
Premiership winners, State of Origin and Test stars will officially hang up their boots following the 2015 NRL Telstra Premiership.
They include Grand Final captains Justin Hodges (Brisbane Broncos) and Clint Newton (Newcastle Knights).
Also present on the night to take part in a lap of honour for retiring and departing players will be David Stagg (Broncos), Frank Pritchard (Bulldogs), Glenn Hall (Cowboys), Bronson Harrison, Dan Hunt (Dragons), Richard Fa’aoso, Matt Keating, Beau Champion (Eels), David Fa’alogo, Kurt Gidley (Knights), Nigel Plum, Sika Manu, Nathan Smith, David Simmons (Panthers), Bryce Gibbs (Sharks), Ben Lowe (Rabbitohs), Bryan Norrie, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (Storm), Matthew Bell, Keith Galloway (Wests Tigers) and Sam Rapira (Warriors).
Other players retiring or departing following the 2015 NRL Telstra Premiership include Reni Maitua, Krisnan Inu (Bulldogs), Fuifui Moimoi (Eels), Timana Tahu (Knights), David Williams (Sea Eagles), Brent Kite (Panthers), Terry Campese, Dane Tilse (Raiders), Glenn Stewart, Lote Tuqiri (Souths), Ben Roberts (Storm) and Brad Tighe and David Taylor (Titans).
Regarding the night-time grand final, it has certainly worked in the players’ favour this year. Around the traditional kick-off time it was 34 degrees C at Olympic Park. At least by tonight’s kick-off the sting will have gone out of the sun. So who does a hot evening favour? Besides publicans. Some say the Cowboys because, um, it’s hotter in Townsville. It’s hardly Vladivostok in Brisbane, however, so who knows.
It's officially the hottest #NRLGF day on record. The temperature just tipped 34.1 at #Sydney Olympic Park! @9NewsSyd
— Natalia Cooper (@Natalia_Cooper9) October 4, 2015
If the quality promised tonight is enticing so are the sub-plots on offer. For instance, can the brilliant Johnathan Thurston deliver the Cowboys their maiden premiership in his 11th season with the club, and the club’s 21st season? Is he 100% fit? —there are doubts. Should he go down the Cowboys would really struggle.
Speaking of Thurston, remember what happened the last (and only) time he and the Cowboys played a grand final? This is partly why he has hung about in Townsville:
Grand Final moments last forever... Right @patrichards5? #NRLGF https://t.co/GkidM2Cfch
— NRL (@NRL) October 3, 2015
Aside from the Thurston story, will Wayne Bennett’s return to Brisbane after six years away result in an immediate dividend, one that would hardly have been expected six months ago? Can powerhouse forward Matt Scott win his first premiership in his 12th season at the Cowboys, the only team he’s ever played for? Will Justin Hodges, playing his 251st, and final, NRL game, go out a winner? With his dodgy lower back will he even last the distance?
And what about Cowboys Jake Granville and Ben Hannant; will they get one back on their former club, the Broncos, after they were let go in 2014 and 2015 respectively? Which of the comparatively-speaking ‘lesser lights’ will make their mark on the game? Lachlan Coote, Darius Boyd, Andrew McCullogh, Kyle Feldt? And what about our Churchill Medal winner? Don’t be surprised if it’s the ever-dependable Corey Parker.
What’s your tip? Like many without a horse in the race, I’d like to see the Cowboys break their duck. But Brisbane, in my opinion, have their noses just in front due to their superior defence and the Cowboys’ habit this season of falling asleep for periods and then having to rouse themselves to come from behind. If they can hold out Brisbane in the first 20 then it could be their day. But if it’s the team with the best defence —and those electric halves— then Brisbane. For me, Brisbane by 8.
Pre-ramble
Hello one and all, welcome to this grand final day liveblog! Well, grand final night. Being of a certain age (i.e. old enough to know better) I’m a bit old fashioned in many ways. As such, I think only sailors with at least three years experience on the open seas should sport tattoos, I think wearing dress shoes without socks is like letting the devil loose among us, and I think rugby league grand finals should kick-off no later than 3pm. So don’t get me started on this ongoing evening kick-off malarkey. I’ll get all het up and then not even my evening glass of lukewarm milk will get me to sleep.
That issue aside, I’m very excited about tonight’s decider between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys. These were two of the three stand-out teams in the regular season, and they’re two teams that play fast, open football with a delightful willingness to depart from the script when the moment is right. Sure, when you’ve got the likes of Johnathan Thurston, Michael Morgan, Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford in your teams, you’d be mad to try and keep their leashes too tight, but good sense doesn’t always prevail in this great game of ours. So kudos to Brisbane’s Wayne Bennett and the Cowboys’ Paul Green for green-lighting their licence to thrill.
As you’ll have noticed both Brisbane and North Queensland are in Queensland. So is Macksville, NSW, but that’s another story. As such, this will be the first time in NRL/ARL/NSWRL history that a grand final will be contested by two teams from the maroon state (if you don’t count the Melbourne Storm as being a Queensland team, that is).
Crisis averted at the 11th hour! http://t.co/1IcxC1Q4m7 #QLDER #NRLGF pic.twitter.com/1VQ6aEwsXb
— Queensland Maroons (@QLDmaroons) October 4, 2015
Some have wondered if this occurrence will have put the good folk of Sydney and NSW off the game, in a similar way to how, say, a chef not cleaning his hands after a leak would put the disgusting in your degustation dining experience. My feeling, however, is that there’s widespread interest in today’s decider in NSW and other parts. First and foremost because of the quality of the two teams. North of the Tweed? Why, I expect they haven’t slept in days so keen are they on this ’un. There’ll be men skipping out of their own weddings and women in labour crossing their legs so as not to miss a thing. In short, don’t knock on the door of a house in Queensland this evening and expect it to be answered.
Kick-off: 7.15pm AEDT (or 6.15pm if you forgot to set your clocks back in the wee hours this morning, or are a “Queenslander! Queenslander! Queenslander!”). Or, if you’re in the UK, that’s 9:15am. Rather civilised time, that.
So join me for the game, please, and don’t hesitate to drop me a line: paul.connolly.casual@theguardian.com or Tweet me: @PFConnolly.
Paul will be here shortly. In the meantime, here are a few of his thoughts on tonight’s big game in Sydney:
You can call the first ever all-Queensland grand final between the Broncos and the Cowboys a derby, if you like, but that’s stretching the definition of the word to breaking point. Not only are there 1,350km of sugar cane, cattle and sun-scorched necks separating the Brisbane and Townsville-based teams – a distance considerably further than that from Brisbane to Sydney – but there’s also a gulf in status, wealth and power. If the Broncos are a plutocrat then the Cowboys are a bloke he used to go to school with but now cuts his lawn.
Sunday’s decider, then, more than any of the previous 38 games they’ve contested, gives the Cowboys a gilt-edged chance to upset the natural order and redeem their struggles with a title and an achievement that no-one can take away from them. It’s a chance that has been 20 years in the making.
Read the full article here.
