Pouring rain, choking, bad refereeing…the 2010 Grand Final wasn’t a classic, but it was one too remember.
While the crowd was probably split with 90% Dragons fans, 8% neutral fans and 2% Roosters fans who had been fans for a solid seven days by the time of the Grand Final.
Now, just before we look at the game itself, I just want to mention the pre-game entertainment…
I don’t care about pre-match entertainment. I tend to watch football games for, ya know, the football. Most of the time its all the same crap we have seen time and time again and no one remembers who was signing what a week after the match.
This year was different!
The pre-game entertainment was so bad, and on an epic scale! Obvious lip syncing, people singing I have never heard of, and then the thrown together pub band singing Rolling Stones songs, just to remind everyone that the NRL couldn’t get the Rolling Stones!
Who ever put it together should be fired, on the spot. I don’t care who they are or how long they have been in the job. get rid of them!
Now, the game…
The Dragons
They started off well but I’ve got to say, as the first half came to an end, the Dragons looked to be doing a classic choke job.
Ben Creagh was terrible, he showed once again he is not a big game player, turning the ball over time and time again.
On top of that, the Dragons went back to throwing the ball to Soward and hoping he could win the game for them. It was all looking terrible for them and half time was a blessing!
In the second half, the Dragons started a little slow, but when they kicked into gear, they had too much for the Roosters and just ran away with it pretty easy. In fact at one point it looked like the Dragons would go on to rack up a huge scoreline.
When they finally won, it was great to see the majority of the fans in the stands stay behind to watch the presentation. It showed how dominant the Dragons fans were compared to the non existent Roosters fans.
The Roosters
It was a good start for the Roosters however at times I think they were kept in the game as the Dragons tried to choke their way out of it.
Todd Carney played great, Braith Anasta was goo early on but kind of faded out of the game as the teams performance fell away.
One again Mitchael Pearce was poor in a big game. I’m sorry but its becoming such a habit that at some point he stops being the golden boy and starts being that dude you can’t rely on in any game that has any meaning at all.
I thought the Roosters best chance to win this game came in the ten minutes leading up to half time. As the Dragons were choking, the Roosters really failed to capitalize, and if they could have put a bit more doubt in the minds of the Dragons by taking a big lead into the break, who knows what would have happened.
I was shocked to hear one of the commentators suggest the Roosters defiantly had the better forward pack. What game does he watch! The Dragons just ground the Roosters pack into the ground until the last minute of the match.
Someone said that would happen!
I felt that the Roosters were pretty lucky with how they got to the Grand Final, and when they got there, they looked a class off the Dragons.
Still, luckily no fans were upset by the loss because the Roosters have no fans at all. So thats something the team can take out of the loss.
Refereeing
The refereeing in this game was catastrophic. It was beyond terrible!
I’ll cop the missing of Brett Morris’ legs being well over the sideline leading up to a Dragons try. It was all very fast and the touch judge didn’t have a line of sight on what happened. If they don’t see it, don’t call it. I have no problem with that.
However, the Roosters try where they said Jamie Sowards leg raked the ball….that is the worst decision I have seen in years.
The ball was lost forward off an opponent. That has been a knock on going all the way back to 1895….in fact before that!
There were a few off side calls that were not made too that were just blatant, by the book off sides. I just couldn’t believe how bad the calls were through the entire game. I think we were lucky they didn’t effect the result, the refs were as bad for both teams.
The Clive Churchill Medal
It was hard to pick this year! I thought that Nightingale in with a shot, I’m not sure how Boyd won it, I didn’t think he had the best game at all!
The Wrap Up
We are all laughing at you Jason Ryles!
