NRl grand final 2018: Cooper Cronk disarms the Storm

Forget Hail Mary, all hail Cooper Cronk. It turns out the Sydney Roosters maestro only needed one good arm to beat the Storm.

Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson with Cooper Cronk after 2018 NRL grand final. Picture: NRL

Forget Hail Mary, all hail Cooper Cronk. It turns out the Sydney Roosters maestro only needed one good arm to beat the Melbourne Storm.

Lured from the Victorian capital by the Roosters to deliver a premiership, Cronk last night answered the call at ANZ Stadium with a composed and courageous performance, belying the pain in his left shoulder and the pluck of his former teammates.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson immediately bestowed legendary status on his playmaker. Rather than feeling the pain, he and his Roosters-in-crime inflicted it on the Storm. After kicking a field goal to win an Origin game, Cronk once talked about every sinew of his body coming together in a perfect whole.

On this occasion, the sinews of his left shoulder were barely hanging together but it didn’t stop him producing a perfect whole yet again. His arm may have hung limply by his side, but his brain and football intelligence were intact.

So too his bravery. That was all the Roosters needed as they soured the final game of Billy Slater’s career with a comprehensive 21-6 victory.

The Storm had no answer to the sheer ferocity of the Roosters’ defence, particularly in the opening exchanges when Melbourne players were set on and driven back with monotonous regularity.

Cronk had been under an injury cloud all week, the suggestion — from him— that he needed a hail mary to play. It emerged after the game that he had played through the pain of a fractured scapula.

Robinson revealed the club had concocted a story that he had damaged a rotator cuff to keep the media and the opposition guess. Even so, he was out of the team on Friday morning. He was back in on Saturday morning after trying a different style of treatment. “Hail Mary landed on our doorstep and got a chance,” Cronk said.

Robinson added: “I have never seen a guy as mentally strong as Cooper Cronk. That is legendary status in our game. What that guy had to do to get there is amazing and we got to witness it.

Latrell Mitchell dives over a try in the decider. Picture: Getty Images.

“To watch a man go through that is awesome. It is hard to explain. Lots of people deliver premierships for us. What he did last week and this week was incredible.

“Coops and I had a conversation on Friday morning. He said I don’t think I will be able to do this with the way it is feeling. Friday afternoon he tried another treatment and said I think I will be right.

Whispers began to circle a couple of hours before kick-off that he would play but his presence was only confirmed when the team lists were released with 60 minutes to go. A miracle was in the making.

Cronk ran out with his arm seemingly in no fit state for a grand final, but the grey matter between the ears compensated for any physical deficiencies he may have been suffering.

He had little to no involvement but it scarcely mattered. By game’s end, he had no runs for no metres. He made eight serviceable tackles, putting his body where it needed to be to stop the opposition.

Five-eighth Luke Keary ran the show — he won the Clive Churchill medal — and Cronk did what he had to. After all the talk about targeting Cronk, the Storm found it difficult to exploit their former teammate.

“I wasn’t frustrated that we couldn’t get to him,” Melbourne captain Cameron Smith said.

“He was pretty much out there just guiding the team around. They essentially played with 12 players tonight. So it’s a fair effort by them to win the game.

“He made himself hard to get at. That is an experience thing. He was quite good at getting out of the road too. We just didn’t have enough ball to go chasing him. They won the game so I am thinking he was fairly influential.”

Of those eight tackles, only two were in the first half when the game hung in the balance. The Roosters hid him brilliantly in defence to the point that his shoulder was never tested in the opening 40 minutes.

Cronk was able to spend the first half wrapped in cotton wool offering sage advice to his teammates.

At one point, commentator and premiership-winning coach Phil Gould suggested the Roosters were playing with 12 men and a coach. He wasn’t far off the mark.

Every time there was a stoppage in play, Cronk called his teammates together and offered instructions with his left arm hanging limply but his side.

He had involvement in the opening two tries, albeit in an ancillary role. His kicks created mistakes from the Storm for the opening two Roosters tries.