Billy Slater reveals secrets behind infamous 2012 grand final try against Bulldogs

A DISCREET tug of the collar was the sign for Billy Slater to switch into gear. Slater knew what he had to do in the 32nd minute of the 2012 grand final.

Billy Slater scored a spectacular try in the 2012 grand final. Picture: Gregg Porteous

A DISCREET tug of the collar was the sign for Billy Slater to switch into gear.

Slater knew what he had to do in the 32nd minute of the 2012 grand final.

So did then teammate Cooper Cronk and Ryan Hoffman, who instigated the “hang” play.

It was a matter of execution, having practiced the set piece about 100 times that week.

“We knew if Ryan ran a particular line it would grab (then Bulldogs five-eighth) Josh Reynolds’s attention,” Slater said ahead of his 319th and last NRL appearance.

“If Cooper played nice and straight and I started from inside and whipped around towards the outside of him there would be a bit of a hole there, which there was.

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Billy Slater scored a spectacular try in the 2012 grand final. Picture: Gregg Porteous

“Cooper threw a nice little no-look pass and basically put me into space and from there I just accelerate and rely on my instinct.”

Slater’s try snapped a 4-4 deadlock and the rest is history, the Storm going on to win the premiership just two years after the salary cap scandal crippled the NRL outpost.

“My eyes didn’t light up until the ball was thrown and I was accelerating into the hole,” Slater said.

“You’ve just got to trust everyone is going to do their job when I zipped around the back of Cooper, that’s when I started thinking ‘it’s worked’.

“You can actually see when teams score a try off a set piece… the jubilation on their face indicates that they’ve actually practiced it and it’s come off.”

Slater combined with Cooper Cronk to score one of the great grand final tries. Picture: Gregg Porteous

But Hoffman, who scored the first try in the grand final, revealed Cronk had to be convinced to run the trick play.

“I kept on calling Coops and saying let’s run this play and he didn’t want to because, to be honest, I don’t think he thought Bill was going to get there in time,” Hoffman said.

“He was umming and ahhing and then he just threw his hands up and said stuff it, we’ve got field position so let’s put it on, and the rest is history.

“It couldn’t have worked any better because Josh came out and hammered me in a tackle and that just opened up the hole.

Slater said the Storm practiced the play 100 times at training.

“He (Cronk) teed it up on a platter for Bill… I actually didn’t see him put the ball down, I was on my back because Josh smashed me.

“Every try we scored that night was from a set play that we practiced like 100 times.

“We actually buggered up a couple at training, I think that’s why Coop was a bit hesitant about it but it certainly came up for us on the night.”

Six years on, to the day almost, 318-game veteran Slater will get one last dance on the big stage – his seventh grand final appearance overall.

Only this time, Cronk is potentially on the other team and Hoffman reduced to being a spectator, having been overlooked for Sunday night’s grand final.