NRL grand final 2015: The moments that mattered as Cowboys win NRL premiership
THESE were the moments that defined the game as the Cowboys claimed their first NRL premiership in sensational style at ANZ Stadium.
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THESE were the moments that defined the game as the Cowboys claimed the NRL premiership in sensational style at ANZ Stadium.
7TH MINUTE: Adam Blair has surprised teams regularly this season with his offloads and his popped ball from a three-man tackle 95m out was seized by Anthony Milford.
The Broncos No.6 accelerated sideways to pick up centre Jack Reed, who played his hand perfectly to release the unmarked winger Corey Oates for one of the great grand final tries. Corey Parker conversion. Broncos 8-0.
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10TH MINUTE: Bronco Matt Gillett coughed up a handling error in the first set after the restart on his 20m line. Jake Granville went to lock for the scrum and dummied Corey Parker at the base of it. Parker bought the dummy despite all of the experience from his 323 first grade games.
Centre Justin O’Neill, who scored a grand final try for Melbourne in 2012, pulled in the inside pass to score. It settled the nerves of the Cowboys after a hurricane start to the contest. Jonathan Thurston conversion. Broncos 8-6.
25TH MINUTE: Thurston gets a repeat set when a grubber, not one of his most incisive, rebounds off a Broncos defender back at his feet. Granville at dummy-half delays a pass on the Broncos tryline expertly to commit Sam Thaiday and prop James Tamou spins over for a try. Thurston conversion. Cowboys 12-8.
34TH MINUTE: Referee Gerard Sutton rules “try’’ when Jack Reed scored Brisbane’s second try from a pass from Matt Gillett. Video referees do not see enough evidence to suggest Andrew McCullough stripped the ball from Johnathan Thurston in the tackle which turned the ball over previously.
Thurston did not agitate much on the field for the strip to be called and the try rescinded. We’ve all seen tries overturned from micro-scrutiny such as this from video referees. But not this time, in a grand final. Jordan Kahu conversion. Broncos 14-12.
59TH-61ST MINUTES: The Cowboys are unable to make the most of 18 tackles from a line dropout forced by a Thurston grubber and a count restart from a Coote grubber. Reed made a try-saving stop on Morgan. When Thurston ran left late in the count his pass put Kane Linnett in a hole but the ball spilt to ground in an horrendous error.
70TH MINUTE: Disjointed again in their last tackle options, the Cowboys were reduced to a roost by Morgan when he was corralled near the tryline. Brisbane fullback Darius Boyd, back pedalling to make the catch with Cowboys racing through, fails to apprehend the bomb, but Kahu, with a footballer’s instinct, had ghosted around behind his vulnerable mate to tidy up the chaos.
76TH MINUTE: Milford strips the ball for the second time in the second half, pinching the ball from Cowboy Ethan Lowe. When Hunt kicks the back over the sideline again, North Queensland, with no interchanges left, walk to the scrum much more slowly than was good for him.
77TH MINUTE: The Cowboys get a chance when Hunt is put on report for an ugly lifting tackle on Linnett. Thurston is taken out of the game for the last-play option with a brutal tackle by Origin teammate Sam Thaiday. Granville dashed out of dummy-half but his grubber is ineffective.
80TH MINUTE: Thurston, unable to break out of a walk due to exhaustion, keeps the ball alive while running backwards on the last play possible of the regulation time. Morgan is released on the right side as the fulltime siren sounds and conjures a one-handed offload to winger Kylie Feldt.
The north Queensland product Feldt, who was not selected for 18 straight weeks because coach Paul Green wanted better handling, among other things, from him reaches out to place the ball in the corner with his right hand.
Broncos players slump to the turf as they await the video referees’ decision of try. Two Broncos turn their backs to the action as Thurston gets a decent piece of his conversion attempt, which strike the right upright. 16-all.
81ST MINUTE: At the restart of extra time, Hunt drops a chest catch, to concede a scrum. Broncos defenders fight tiredness to charge up heroically twice to force Thurston and Coote to forego plans for a field goal shot.
The third time, Thurston was able to find enough space to win his third game of the season with a late or golden-point field goal. The great escapologists of the NRL had been behind in the final second of a grand final and still won a premiership.
Originally published as NRL grand final 2015: The moments that mattered as Cowboys win NRL premiership
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