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And back at Rugby League headquarters here at the Olympic Stadium, we’re about to celebrate the end of5 years of Rugby League in Australia. Good afternoon everybody. I’m Ray Warren joining the commentary team now as we stand by with great expectation for the clash that might turn out to be one of the great battles of grand final football. Melbourne led out by Cameron Smith and of course Canterbury on the other side of the equation. For Melbourne officially, they’ve won just the one Premiership, even though they’ve won three grand finals. Two Premierships were taken for breaches of the salary cap. But Melbourne have flocked to Sydney today in much bigger numbers than I thought was ever possible. They occupy probably something like 20% of the stadium down at the southern end. It’s a magnificent site as Cameron takes them out. [Music] crowd of just over probably 82,000 people. The record stands at around 82 and a half thousand here to see what is in many ways a unique grand final. As Michael prepares to take the Bulldogs out, they will get a rousing reception. As I said, about 80% of the crowd out here addressed in blue and white, and there will be an enormous roar go up from the Bulldogs faithful. Michael and his team are about to enter the stadium. Can they win their first premiership since 2004? Will they make it their ninth premiership ever? They two have had their problems a decade ago. They had their premiership points wiped away and that stopped them winning that premiership that year. So here’s Canterbury about to come out. [Applause] [Music] They’ve been the 17 Premiership deciders. No club has won more than them in the last three decades. four times they’ve won in the 80s, then in 95 and most recently, as I said, in ‘ 04. On the other hand, no club has been to as many grand finals as Melbourne in the last seven years. Today makes five from seven. Ironically though, they played here only the once in the last three years. It’s a stat that hasn’t been given a lot of attention, but only once have they been here in the last three years to Rugby League headquarters. That was a regular season competition game against South Sydney. And the last time these two clubs met each other here was back in 2007. Canterbury in their own backyard. This is their home ground. They make a habit of winning here. They’ve won their last 10 in a row here. They’ve won 15 of their last 16 overall. So from the air, that’s what it looks like here at A&Z Stadium. The national anthem is about to be sung. The players line and look towards the western stand. Not a cloud in the sky over the harbor city as we pause for the national an [Applause] amazing on channel 9’s the voice. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the national anthem of Australia to be performed by Sarah Dabono. Australians [Music] all let us rejoice for we are young and With golden soil and wealth for our home is good by sea. Howland abounds in nature’s gifts of beauty rich and rare in history’s page let every stage and Australia fair in joyful streets they let us sing and Australia [Music] Yes, the talk of the voice and that is a voice Sarah Dabono at the grand final of 2012. So, the Bulldogs will be guarding the southern end of the ground. And of course, this match highlighted, I guess, by the the jewel between the number ones, the kid at the back of Canterbury, Ben Barber. It’s been a fairy tale journey for the youngster from Mai. He arrived at Belmore in 2008 on a $15,000 contract, and he worked to supplement that wage to working in a car wash at Yaguna. The bloke at the other end of the park is Billy Slater. Perhaps the best fullback the game has ever seen. His fifth grand final for the storm. And while Barber was washing cars, this bloke was riding raceh horses in track work as the Madden Brothers show off the Proven Summons trophy that symbolizes the best team in rugby league each and every year. Melbourne then go through their their final instructions probably delivered I would imagine by Cameron. Remember back to Thursday, March the 1st. It was a bumper crowd. It was a capacity crowd at Hunter Stadium to see Wayne Bennett’s nights take on Steven Price’s St. George Law. It was a full house that night. It’s a full house tonight. From the first day of March to the last day of September, the grand final is about to kick off. Right, boys. Okay, here we go. Canterbury running towards the southern end of the park in front of a crowd up near 83,000 people and Melbourne with Brian Nory bringing it back 15 m away from that side that uh that try line and over towards the eastern sideline. So, Canterbury will do all they can to slow Melbourne’s play the balls down. Brumage it was taking it ahead grimacing as he took the the brunt of the tackle from Tolman and from Jackson and now it’s with Hoffman. So the first set of six of the grand final with Smith coming out from dummy half and eastward it was who desperately went across to cut him down right in the middle of the park and it goes to the boot of Cromp now and Cooper puts the kick down towards Barber Barber from his own 10 m line brings it out to the 20 and he’s brought down and tackled over there by the Melbourne center 3/4er Will Chambers. So Canterbury with their first set, Jonathan Wright who played in the New South Wales Cup winning side last year. And now it’s with Josh Reynolds who will play the ball on the 30 m line. One of the revelations of the season is Reynolds as it comes back to Tolman and Tolman to play the ball. James Graham will come from the bench, his lookalike in his seventh consecutive grand final. Here’s Reynolds now. And then Inu is clamped and then takes a a shoulder charge towards the kidney area as Katin rates a kick away and it goes down to Neielson in the deep and he goes immediately on Slater. So Slater comes back towards Neil. Oh Barber. Was it Barber? No, in fact it was Sam Perro who was trying to get a intercept and go in to score a try and it would have been easy for him. And they don’t show a lot of passes in Melbourne Storm down this end of the field when they’re bringing it out as they’re doing now through Wonger. But this pass from Billy Slater, Sam Parrot, he read it, threw the right arm out. Looked like he had it, but out it came. You know, a scare there for Melbourne who bring it out through Brmic just as they did in the opening set through that middle third of the field. So the front rowers make the tackle. Tolman and Cassiano as the ball goes to Clank and down to Proctor and Proctor and jumper number 15 will play the ball just inside the Canterbury 40 m line. Back for the captain and it goes away to in the headgear Todd Lowry and jumper number 13. 28 m out down the middle of the ground on the the short side. It rolls down there gently into Barber but and Barber goes to ground wisely in the field of play. I thought for a moment they might have been able to force him back into the in goal. Josh Morris is with the ball now. [Applause] the three mid-season transfers as players involved in this grand final. It was a really good run from Sam Perro. They were in trouble. He picked up 15 meters. Got a good play of the ball, a quick play of the ball and that allowed Casiano and then Pritchard to get close to the 40. Play by Pritchard and it’s gone to the boot of Reynolds now and he puts it down towards Slater inside his own 20 m line. Slater comes away and he steps and he beats Enu and he steps and he beats Jackson. He comes then to Tolman and he’s put down by Tolman at Eastwood. Play near the halfway line. Played back to Neielen and the number five is one for the storm and it’ll be played just outside the 40 m line. O’Neal it is in fact who plays the ball and now goes on to Lowry and Lowry is picked up and driven into the ground by Eastwood. So Wong playing on the right side and they kneel on the left and there’s Hoffman picked up in a good tackle and rolled over and tackled by Reynolds. Crock it is. He goes harder. He runs into his shoulder from Inu. How do you do? My name is Chrisman Inu. Now it’s gone onto the boot of Wind. And it goes high and Jonathan Wright goes up. It came off him. It came down to a player who’s in front of him. Yeah, we’re coming back, but Ben Barber is still racing away to what he thinks is the opening points of the game. I don’t there’s any doubt at all that Jonathan White touches this football. And Chris and Inu, both sets of outside backs will need to make good decisions this afternoon and they have already. And Christristen Inu after Kubro traveled a long way to come around the short side met his match. So, who’s touched it first? Wonger or Wright? Knock knock on first off John right. Well, if it’s a knock on by Jonathan Wright, it should be a penalty to the Melbourne Storm because everyone else was in front of him. Well, that’s the way I saw it and that’s how I called it. It went down to a Canterbury player in front of him and they’re preparing to pack a scrum. Well, it should be a penalty kick to uh to the Melbourne Storm. And that would be the greater advantage cuz it’s a chance at points. He’s up. Up they go. Jonathan Wright gets his hands to that and the ball will come forward to a teammate in front of him. That’s a penalty. I think what he’s ruled is come off Jonathan right and touched an opposing player. Therefore, it’s a scrum. That’s the first bridge. That’s what he’s done. He said it’s come off right and gone into an opposing player. And that’s the first breach. So it’s a knock on. And here’s Proctor who’ll play the ball 10 out in the middle of the ground. Playing it to Cameron Smith. And the first big opportunity comes to Melbourne. Here’s Hoffman. Hoffman goes for the line and he gets it over there. Hoffman has scored. I fancy. The referee points to the spot. Melbourne four. Canterbury yet to score. and they have hit the ground running the Melbourne Storm. One of their pet plays, left fringe, Ryan Hoffman scored in this fashion against Paramata back in 2009. It went to the first runner. Chris Aninu went up on the outside expecting for the ball to go that way and that opened the hole up for the Tricorer. First try in the grand final score by number 124 his 11th try of the season. [Applause] [Music] Just while we’re in the break, a big welcome to our audience is taking us right around the world. And to you people on PO cruisers, welcome aboard. [Applause] Welcome back to the grand final and we’ve got our first points on the board after seven minutes of play. This man who was at Melbourne, he was one of those that had to be downloaded during that uh turbulent period for them and he’s back with them and they are so glad that he is. I think he’s playing in his fourth grand final today for the Melbourne Storm. Ryan Hoffman. I had visions all week of the Paramea Storm Grand Final a few years ago where Melbourne Storm targeted Robson and young Daniel Mortimer on the edges. And I think that Kading and Reynolds are going to get a real workout this afternoon. Already it’s produced points. 10 m in from touch and 20 m out. Cameron Smith who didn’t kick well last week and he misses with his first attempt today. Wally Lewis is on the sideline today. Yes, first points on the board. Our clean up with Kino. We’ll just show you a very clever angle that was run from Hman. Cleverly charged into a gap where all of the defenders were expecting the ball to go to a second man play perhaps Billy Slater. But he did very well. I’ve got to say he’s probably feeling quite good about himself now. Hoffen. He lost his boots on Thursday and thought it was going to be bad luck. Well, it hasn’t been that sort of start to the game. So, we go back and do what we did some eight or nine minutes ago. And Brian Nory brings it out of the corner. He’s met in a solid tackle by the two crops again. Tolman and Cathiano. And here’s Brahmich with a struggling run. Peter, good charge from Brahmich. We saw there in the try why Gareth Whit is the perfect foil for Cooper Cromp. He can he can act as a ball player, but he also runs the football beautifully. But dazzling footwork Gareth Whit. But that time a lovely pass held up pass for Ryan Hoffman. And James Graham it appears will come into the game fairly fairly soon. He he has been coming on early into the game and normally the replay Sam Casiano as the ball is kicked by Kron and it’s going down to Barber. Oh, it’s gone straight through the net and it’s gone dead. Well, that’s good work from Cooper Kron and that’s exactly what you want to do to an opposing fullback in the early stages of a big game. I made mention last week that South Sydney didn’t do enough of this and I know Ben Barber’s been great under the high ball for a while, but you can’t catch them all. And Cooper Crock has got the ability to make this ball swing in the air and come down in a very difficult fashion. And Barbara has spilled the first one and that can play on your mind for the rest of the contest. No one pressures fullbacks more than this bloke, Cooper Kron, the ultimate professional. There’s Hasslup. First coach to take different clubs to a grand final. And a little look little worry across the coach’s face at the moment as Wonger brings the ball back. That left knee that let him down in Melbourne. Heavily taped. Hoffman is with the ball. He’s having a brilliant season. Hoffman and the tribe I wouldn’t think surprises too many of the people that watch this game week in and week out. Kron will play the ball now 22 m away from the line. So Smith goes away to Widolf and then to Proctor and Proctor has a look at the 10 m line. So 4 in favor of Melbourne as it comes from Smith and then goes off Kron and Barber takes it dead. line drop out then will restart. How many can they withstand? Yeah, he didn’t take any chances there, Benny Barber. And you can’t when you’ve got a player like Billy Slater in the opposition team cuz he moves so quickly. He’d have loved probably one more bounce, but he could feel Slater looming up. That was coning behind behind the line. Stay behind. Wonderful sight as you look around the stadium. This crowd, as I said, bordering on maximum as Slater marks the line drop out. And look at Brian Nory charging back and met by Tolman. He played with Melbourne in the 09 grand final. Penalty goes against him for not. He’s already on the way up, mate. But walking forward. Just let go. Just let go. If he goes forward, I’ll let him go back. Don’t worry. He played over 50 games and a great signing for the Bulldogs. That’s how it is. Come on. I told him to lend out. Way you go. Tony Archer and Ben Cumins, the two referees in this grand final. That was Archer there in conversation with Michael Anus as Brahmage takes it ahead. Melbourne again with the red light flashing, but the ball goes to ground. Wonger picks it up and Wonger will play the ball 15 m out. Eventually he’s wrestled down by Frank Pritchard in the number 11 and from Smith dummy half to Kron and now to Nor and Coleman and Eastwood are there. They put him down but they’re 9 m out from the line. Third consecutive set now. And here’s Widolf chiming in. Hoffman close to his left hip but he’s put down. Three Canterbury players putting the 5/8 away. Penalty Melbourne. They’re falling asleep on him. Falling asleep on him is the words from Ben Cumins. Too long. Well, I spoke to Dazzler during the week and he said that he needed his team to go with Melbourne. He needed the Mel the counter bullogs to stay with them. Well, at the moment a mountain of possession against them. Pressure maintained. Lowry takes the ball forward and goes within a meter. So Smith going in to the helm and he goes to Hoffman one more time and Hoffman is pitchforked into the ground by Canterbury. Now Smith goes behind two decoys and goes to Cru and Inis flies across the park and crushes him into the ground. Now Smith behind Proctor. It’s with Widolf again and Keating is extended to make the tackle. Play then by Widow Smith from Dummy Deni went out looking for Brahmage. He’ll play the ball. Seven out from the line. This is the last for the men in purple and Whid puts in a little kick, but Josh Morris takes it. He’s going to be forced in goal. There’ll be four sets in a row then to Melbourne. Well, any question as to whether or not we got the two best teams in the competition here today have just been put to rest. The Melman Storm attack has been crisp, clinical, and executed nearly to perfection, but this Bulldog’s defense has refused to yield. I know they’ve conceded one, but lesser teams would have conceded three or four in this barrage. And Dez Haz has ruining his disappointment of having to give the ball back to the opposition. But if they can hold them out again, this might be the making of the grand final for the Bulldogs. Lot of pressure on this set of six to keep the Melbourne Storm at bay again. So here we go again with Brian Murray carrying the ball back to within 25 m of the Canterbury line. So five tackles from 25 outs and keep in mind they’ve now had the ball. This is their fourth set in a row and Hoffman to play the ball. Scored the first try at the seventh minute of the grand final and Widok goes back to Crock behind Proctor. It’s found Slater and Slater is held by Pritchard and by right and put down. That’s great defense. 15 out now and Smith decides to have a look and he ran into the hip of Casiano. Pab was low. Penalty Melbourne again. High tackle mate. It’s clearly a high tackle. A high tackle is the ruling from Archer. The Melbourne Storm have tapped and run twice now when they’ve had an opportunity to kick goals. Now Cameron Smith points to the post and if I’m the Bulldogs I see that as a victory. This is a mark of respect from Cameron Smith to say, “Okay, we’ve thrown everything at you and got nothing. I need to come away with something as a question and you know that’s a pretty harsh penalty. We’re asking for quicker rocks.” That’s very harsh penalty. Very harsh penalty. But the fact that Cameron Smith has now pointed to the post, I reckon the Bulldogs can see that as a little victory that they’ve held this great side at bay for those all those repeat sets of six. Well, the Melbourne Storm have had the ball 11 times and they’ve completed 11 sets. Two from three for the Bulldogs. 6-nil if this goes over is not a bad result for the Bulldogs who will love the opportunity to get the ball down the other end of the field. And in those three sets, Peter, that the Bulldogs have had, one of them is is Jonathan Wright knocking the ball on on tackle zero. So, it doesn’t really count. They’ve only had two opportunities with the ball to 11 from the Melbourne Storm. And even if Smith kicks this, six is a great result for the defense of the Minor Premers. They’ve done really well to hold them out. 16 minutes gone and Cameron Smith with his second shot at goal for the day. And he’s missed it again. And so they’re coming away with the ball now, Canterbury. That’s called a football you’ve got in your possession, Canterbury. And it’s Reynolds who comes away. Now it’s a massive result for the defense. And listen to the bull top crowd get into it now. Graham is out there. The number 14, seven consecutive grand finals. Six of those played in the Super League. And he’s won one out of six. And get used to the look of him. He’ll stay out there for the rest of the game now as Tolman takes it forward. That’s the fourth tackle. Now the fifth. They’ll be kicking from just inside their own half. Keing the number seven. Good kick. Willie Slater down on the sideline. Getting it away to Wonger. Wonger throws it along along the line to O’Neal and O’Neal will play the ball 12 m out from his own line. So supreme defense by Canterbury holding Melbourne. Four consecutive sets. Penalty after penalty going the way of Melbourne. 3-0 the penalty count in favor of Melbourne. They played precise football. Brilliant attacking football. And then Canterbury matched them with the other 50% of our game which is called defense. And here is Lowry now taking it up to the middle of the ground for Melbourne. pulled down by Graham and it’s played back to Smith and gone to Kron. And Kron gets a kick in just before Enis puts a tackle on him. And here’s Jonathan Wright coming away. That was better fifth tackle pressure from the Bulldogs there. It didn’t allow Cooper Cromp to wind up. Another one of those big swirling bombs for Benny Barber. He just had to rush his kick down the wing and straight down to right. That was good play. Slow to get up after making that tackle on Josh Morris. Canterbury to play the ball with Graham in the middle of the ground and it’s gone to Eastwood who’ve been in superb form. Eastwood then picked up and manhandled to the ground by Cameron Smith and Jesse Brahmich. And here they go the polar bears. And now it goes to Keading and it goes out to Barber. Barber in from the back. Oh, knocked down by Wner. Wow. And they were on their way. Josh Morris was going to be unmarked on the left side. They were off and gone. You don’t see the Melbourne Storm make a misreading defense like this too often, but they got Barber around the outside and I think it’s Will Chambers comes up with a really big play here. Or maybe Wonger is it who comes up from the wing and gets his hand to that ball. Otherwise, they were off and gone. Will Chambers came racing in on a decoy runner and left it open out there and Cisa Wonger has come up with a big play, big defensive play to prevent the try. Finding Jesse, he saved the day. And I mentioned earlier that the outside backs will need to make good decisions Chambers. He came in and Ben Barber as we’ve seen all season the speed to get around the outside. The dogs now in attacking position through Eastwood and Peting. Keing goes behind Pritchard. He gets the ball away to Morris and Wonger again is made to make the tackle. 20 m out. Here’s Pritchard and Pritchard takes it up and is taken by Lowry and Bromich Proctor getting involved in the tackle. So now Canterbury firmly on the attack. They’re 10 meters. Alan Graham is taken. Seven away in front of the uprights. Tackler was Proctor. Here’s Inennis going deep. Back to Keing and Keing tries to step off his left foot, but he’s tackled on five for Canterbury. So where’s Reynolds? He’s back. And here he is with the ball. He puts the kick out. judiciously. Up they go. Melbourne have come down and going out to the 20 m is Justin O’Neal. Yeah, they’ll do very well to get over the top of this man with the football now. Justin O’Neal, one of the great athletes in our game and in the air was almost untouchable. It wasn’t a great set from the Dogs. They lost their way halfway through it, but at least they saw the southern end of the field and had a chance to introduce themselves. Lowry then after Chambers have played the ball. Number 14 is getting ready to come into the game for the storm. That’s Ryan Henchcliffe as Gareth Wood tries to find space. Just over the halfway line they are. Jackson was the tapper and he lost the ball. It’s a knock on against Melbourne against Gareth Whidop. The blue and white bunting. They’re a very learned crowd when it comes to rugby league. While Canterbury had their backs to the wall and were defending, they knew that what they were doing was as good as scoring tries at the other end of the park. It’s high quality stuff really from both sides. Storm have gone through an incredibly good period here and the Bulldogs have only conceded four. [Applause] Keing and Reynolds with it. Oh, knock knocked on by Sam Perro on the first tackle and Melbourne are given the advantage through Nari. Well, Melbourne still read that perfectly. It was like they’d been to training and seen the Bulldogs rehearsse that play because when Perro come back on the inside, they nailed him. Nollie again working tirelessly. He plays the ball inside the 30 m line when allowed to. And here is Hel with his first touch of the ball. Picked up by Eastwood and put into the ground with the help of Graham. Smith gets it away to Kron and Kron will play the ball under the tackle of Tolman and Pritchard. 15 m out from the line and Melbourne again. Familiar territory for them as Hinchcliffe runs into Eastwood and Eastwood rides him into the ground. So Smith sweeps the way to Kron who goes looking for Wonger. The jump is on the bat down. Comes down to Kron. Play on is the call and Kron is 2 m from the line on the zero tackle. Paid back for Jamon Low and the ball bounces away to Smith. Now it goes to Widop and Widop is umbrella by Canterbury and sent back in the other direction. So Widop is 8 m out from the line. Smith then to the right side and he goes away to Hinchcliffe and Hinchcliffe is read well by Pritchard and Katy and his work is not finished yet. Now he’s held up in goal, says Tony Archer. There you go, Ryan. He actually got to the line then. Ryan Hcliffe. Like they denied him a fairway short. Back to the 10 lead. Just the second tackle. Cliff plays it front deep back to Wid. A missileike tackle from Reynolds. It’s gone out to O’Neal who steps off his left foot and beats a couple of them. He’s beaten three of them. He’s back in the middle of the ground. O’Neal and he had played the ball there for Melbourne. Smith it was with the ball coming around and putting a little kick in but Barbara read it took it down on the ground got up and made a couple of more meters before being tackled by Smith and Hoffman. Now he knew and again that kick was a tribute to the Canterbury defense. It was a last second decision. A brick wall in front again. So Melbourne thought they’d try and kick their way through. Well, now that they’ve got this penalty, the Bulldogs and they had a chance when they won that previous scrum to say, “Okay, we’ve weathered this storm. We really need to get down the other end and put this other side under some pressure. Give them a taste of it. Starve them of the ball for a while and see if they can handle the pressure. The Bulldogs have stood up to it. They’ve got to find a way to put the blowtorrch on the storm. Jackson play right on halfway. David Stag going on for Greg Eastwood in the Canterbury lineup. Here’s a ball out the back from Graham to Stag. [Music] 5 m into Melbourne’s territory. It’s with Kitty and now Pritchard. And Pritchard is taken down by three of the Melbourne Storm players, including Hinscliffe over the top. Now it’s Graham again. He goes back deep to Reynolds. Reynolds gets away from Lowry, ducks under Whidock, goes inside the 20 m line and plays the ball quickly. So Canterbury then it’s going to be his boot and Perro goes after it and does he score? Sam Perro I think might have a try. I don’t even think Billy Slater has stopped this now. Oh, it explodes in in the in goal area. David Stag and Billy Slater. Well, certainly Canterbury took offense at Billy Slater. Although there didn’t seem to be anything untoward as Sam Perrick crossed in the corner. Now it’s on Josh Reynolds throwing them. Sisonga in there as well. Okay. [Applause] What? I’m almost certain that he scored. S Perry, he’s done a great job to gather the football and get it down. I’m not talking. I’m not talking here. He might be half an hour finding out. This is going to be a lengthy inquiry here. Go there. Take him over there. Take him over. Get him out of there. Hey, he’s not talking to me. He said, “Well, I come and talk to him before I give the try.” Go back over there. Ryan, away you go. Away you go. [Applause] go but he was he retaliated definitely ground and see I said I will come to you in a minute I’m going to the try first he wants to see firstly if he’s got a try to look at I want to check the onside and the grounding first and then see what happens after that was a brave play by Camry last tackle to go down the short side I think it was initiated by Michaelis [Applause] was a brilliant little kick from Inu and very very brave of Perro who goes down on this ball despite the attention of Slater. Now I’m not sure there is anything more either player could do here. I think it’s a try and I don’t think Slater has uh if I can use the expression he hasn’t done a Sam Burgess. He hasn’t led with his his feet. He hasn’t led with his knees and this will be a try and then they’ll go to the investigation as to what happens afterwards. Watch it again and one of the Canterbury players Inu pushes Slater away and then Stag puts him in a headlock basically trying to separate him from Inu. He gets one in the face and then Jamon Low and Chrisman Inu they don’t seem to be exchanging Christmas cards either. And then over then it it breaks out between Josh Reynolds and Sis Cis Wonga. Well, it it just got into a bit of a brewhaha after that. They’re all pushing and shoving, but that’s a brilliant pick up. And and and God, that’s a try. It’s brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Inu and Terret. Sensational. And I don’t think there’s much in this. There’s nothing much in that. Not necessary, but hardly any reason to take the try off the Bulldogs. The rest of it is just everyone being in a melee and not sure who’s behind them, who’s got hold of them, and everything starts to be push and shove and wrestle and then the grand final flows and someone will throw a punch eventually, but I think it’s all okay. When Slater was coming across, his his leg was getting in a bad position, but I think he actually realized that and half pulled out of it to avoid that kind of contact. So, he he’s done absolutely nothing wrong. I think Sam Perro originally thought that was the problem. Then Inu is is obviously of that same opinion, but it was only a gentle push by Inu. It’s nothing. And David Stag, all he was trying to do was to take Billy away out of it. And I don’t think there was a punch thrown in that combat at all. It’s a try. General caution. Let’s get on with it. It’s a nothing. You watch the crowd here, Rabbits, when the when the Troy light goes up. Watch this here. This is where it breaks out away from where the where the inferno is. These players, they might have some problems. Particularly Wonga and Reynolds, they decide to have a bit of a go here. But again, it’s no damage done. Get on with it. Get on with it. Put the green light up. Let’s get on with it. Well, let’s get back to how good this try is. It’s brilliant. A really great try. Okay. Is that is that who you want? And the two offseason purchases put it together. Take time off again. Go there and do with those. Leave them there and go there. Here we go. Green light. That’s the first thing we want. Green light. Watch the crowd erupt. Canterbury 11. In one minute. We’re going to do with them first and then we’re going to come back and talk to you. And then I’ll come and talk to you. I am going to go and talk. I will go and talk to you in a minute. You want the boat? We’ll tell him. We’re going to talk to you in a minute. I’ll go talk to you. Michael, don’t worry about it. Michael. Michael. What’s happened? Okay. Benny told him about this. There’s an allegation. Okay. Listen to this. What is it? A biding allegation. We’re going to do with him. This is abiding allegation. You deal with him. Yeah. There’s bit of push and shove in. Don’t come in. All right. I don’t want you saying anything. There’s other teeth that don’t come in. All right. Leave it alone. You need to keep your base. Okay. Go back. Keep the car. Okay. Anything you got for Okay. Come out. Surely there Billy. Wait. Just wait here. This might be about the headlock that David want me in the ear. Okay. Okay. You see the incident? You see the blood on the ear? Anyone seen that? Well, it’s on the record. That incident is on report. That’s all you can do. The incident’s on report for an allegation of body. The tri stand and that goes on report. That incident between I think David Stag and Billy Slater. I I find it hard to believe that they made James Graham come 50 m to be told that. Oh. Oh, here it is. Here it’s James Graham and Billy Slater. Oh gee. Well, that wasn’t mentioned when he was brought back, but [Applause] okay. Anyway, back to the kick. Krnan in there has brought this kick back nearly 38 39 m, which makes it a hell of a long kick from the sideline. There’s this high scorer Sam Perro. Look at this. He’s brought it nearly back to the 30. This is uh quite extraordinary to open up the angle, but wonderful, wonderful period of football. Grand final football there. Brilliant attack from the storm. Outstanding defense from the dogs. And then as is typical of their spirit and their courage, they find a way to hit back and level the scores. And Chrisman with a big long kick from out wide here. Incredible really. This man and the triccorer, they laid this on in the final conclusion and they were mid-season transfers from the Warriors and the Roosters. In who’s bringing it back. It’s all gone just wide. So four all in the grand final. But uh it seems like a long time ago we saw some football that was as lengthy an inquiry as I’ve seen for a long long time. Certainly in a grand final. Here’s the try head on Pete. Yeah. Mentioned that it was a very brave decision to go down that side. The Kino replay looked wonderful and then Yeah. Doesn’t help James Graham’s cause there. Anyway, that’ll be dealt with later on. Let’s get on with play for all Jonathan Wright going towards the sideline. Eight out from his own line. Looked like a bit of Mike Tyson and a Vander Hollyfield there. Per, you might be embellishing the Graham Slater incident just a little, but I do understand what you’re trying to say. This is Tolman with the ball playing it outside 30. And here’s Graeme. I told you earlier he’s playing the seventh consecutive grand final. Six of them in the uh Super League in England. He won one of the six and if he does win this one or even if he loses this one he’s on a an allegation of biting. Melbourne fullback Billy Slater. Ridolf is on the 40 m line his own end of the ground. Here’s Hoffman. Ray Price got accused of biting once. He had no teeth. Now Jamon Low 40 m away from the Canterbury line having to think for himself as they go outside inside and Kron and Smith put it together there just outside the 30 m line and it’s played for Slater to go to Kron and Kron is legitimately taken by Tolman. He’s gone down then to right and right was on the ground tried to get up and go again. might have been better served to stay where he was. There’s no damage done. Now Morris loses the ball and it goes into touch. Melbourne will get the next chance. Well, it was actually a great surge from Morris cuz they were deep near their own line and they needed someone to come up with a good run and he did and make good ground out of the back field. But maybe a loose carry here has cost him possession. Good strength here. Bang pushes one out of the way. Pens away and another starts to surge away a little bit. These are all valuable meters and the ball is punched from his hand. I don’t think playing at the ball Todd Lowry but I put that down to a poor carry, a loose carry and Melbourne Storm the last time they won a scrum here scored on play two. [Applause] So Melbourne with a short side play and Slater it is taken down 9 m out from the line. Smith for Crank. Crock then back to Lowry and Lowry towards the center of the drought. Taken down by Stag and Tolman. Now it’s to Kron again. He goes short to Hoffman. And Hoffman is a couple of meters out from the line. Smith swinging it back to the center of the ground. He picks up Kron and then Slater comes in. The ball is out there with Chambers and he’ll play the ball 15 meters out from the line. That’s courageous decision making in defense there again from the Dolph. They’ve been solid Larry. Then ring of blue and white jumpers and this time it’s Proctor and Proctor gets the ball down on the bounce to Lowry. Lowry again is faced with the same problem. A line or a ring of blue and white jumpers and he plays the ball. Lowry 10 m out back to Kron who kicks and it’s gone wide and Terret he knocks it down. Reynolds was on side. Reynolds is away down the right side. Beautiful chase ending in Melbourne finishing up with the ball. Gareth wid chase and tackle penalty tackled and here walk away. Walk away Melbourne Storm. who actually gathered the ball back to Josh Reynolds and Ben Barber was looming back on the inside. But the Englishman Gareth Whit was able to run down his opposite number. Billy Slater is there as well and a diving tackle there saved the day and the ball came loose when he got to the ground. Josh Reynolds. She was very close to Sam Terret knocking that ball forward to Reynolds I thought. Nevertheless, another exciting passage. We’re under 10 minutes to go. What do we got? 8 minutes to go before Halime. This has flown this game. That’s allowing for the 6-minute stoppage as a Blackhawk helicopter been circling up there for six or seven minutes. Waiting his turn to land at Halime. And got it away to Slater. Slater. He’s over. Billy the kid. Billy Slater has scored another another try. Tackle three, mate. Just the grounding. Now they want to check grounding. Don’t you love to see a piece of play slide of hand deception come off and the inside outside passing game of Cooper Kron was always going to be instrumental this afternoon as Billy Slater gets the football down for the Melbourne Storm second try. It will look beautiful on the Kino replay again like Gareth Whidup did in the first half. Held the ball up, held the ball up, waited for the man to run into the hole to take advantage. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] What’s up with that, boys? 16. Well, there he is, the triccorer, the prolific trycorer, Billy Slater. 140 tries now. 16 for the year. And as I said even in the opening of this telecast that you’re watching live and exclusive on nine, the battle of the number ones, the electric dynamo at the back for Canterbury up against perhaps the best fullback of all time. Smith converts the try scored by another of the big three and the Storm lead 104 and we’ve got seven minutes to go in the first half. Wally Lewis and the stadium is alive. A very clever play from Melbourne Storm. The Kino replay shown the precision shown by Billy Slater to run into a perfect gap. There were plenty of other opportunities for the Bulldogs. They had to take each man racing through. The Kino replay shows it perfectly. Slater getting across the line. This game is alive and kicking. What a magic pass it was from Cooper Kron. Yeah, but when you defend Ray, you’ve got to do so with peripheral vision. And Josh Reynolds, he had no idea Billy Slater was there. He only had eyes for his outside man who he went up on was able to hold it long enough for the defense to to make their decisions and Slater ran into a hole. So Melbourne bringing the ball out now to the 30 m line. They lead 10-4 and we’re still some 6 and 1/2 minutes from the break and Melbourne kicking in general play down to Barber. He’ll come out at his own 20. No, he won’t. He’s given it to Sam Perro. As I said, there’s a Blackhawk helicopter circling the Olympic stadium. On board is the eighth Immortal, Andrew John, who will be delivered at Halime and will be greeted by fellow immortals Bob Fton, Graeme Langland’s, Johnny Raper, Wally Lewis, and the families of Arthur Beaton, Clive Churchill, and Reg Gaznia. But I hope he’s got plenty of juice on board up there because that delay after the per try, the Black Hawk has been saying, “Where am I going now? What do you want me to do now?” He’s not that good with heights either, eh? Who Andrew or the Blackhawk helicopter? The lad’s okay. Andrew might be in a bit of trouble. Last tackle now. Josh Reynolds. Reynolds it is who stabs it this time down in the direction of Slater. He did his damnest to stop the try of Perrick. It’s my belief though he pulled out of it as far as anything to do with the feet are concerned. reduce the amount of danger, but then he’s got himself uh in well he’s he’s in no trouble himself but James Graham is on an allegation of biting Billy Slater on the ear in the fracker that followed. Manu is on plays the ball for Melbourne. comes on to Hford who crosses halfway in the company of Lowry and Lowry to play the ball 48 meters out from Canterbury’s line. And here’s Cameron Smith shrugging away a high tackle going low is David Stag. James Graham involved pass by Sway to Kron’s boot and Kron kicks down towards Barber. Barber takes it safe, they’re going to grab him in goal or will they? No, he got rid of the ball. Jonathan Wright’s got the job to do now. No, it’s a line drop out. Brilliant work by Bara and a great kick and chase from Melbourne. Wow. What about that for a pass? Talk about give your coach nightmare as they drive him back into the in goal and Alioop out she comes the back and say do your best with that brother. There’s plenty of purple jerseys there. Seemanu up to make the tackle and force them in goal. And a really crucial period coming up right here now. Great kick from Cooper Con again. Good take Vinnie Barber. A bit of adventurism at the back of it. That’s a massive drop kick. And Billy Slater took it some 55 m down the ground. Jamon Low who says goodbye to Rugby League in this your grand final tonight. It’s gone with Ne who bumped away from the front marker only to be tackled by the same man eventually. Smith to Prong. away picking up Manu and Sika Manu will play the ball 13 m away from Canterbury’s line. So Melbourne with another chance here brewing and it’s with Kron deep to Lowry short to Hoffman who’s been threatening on this left side Melbourne attack since the game started. Smith goes from down half gives it to Henchcliffe and his legs are cut by Stag and then he’s tackled over the top by Pritchard. Last tackle Melbourne to Crawl. There’s the kick. A grubberu has got it. He’s got to find the ground. He’s got to find the ground and he does. He does. That’s a good piece of work by Chris Inu. Can’t fault his work today in in defense and in attack. Chrisinu, he’s really come to play. They’ve been under a lot of pressure there because they’re aiming all their attack at young Josh Reynolds and the defenders inside and outside of Reynolds have really been working overtime to protect and support him. Tuesday on nine, it’s set to sizzle with the all new Big Bang Theory. Two broke girls, knock on and two and a half men. The new season kickoff this Tuesday. Half past eight on nine. Yeah, Casiano on that occasion just got through the line and flicked the ball out to Ben Barber in support and it went to ground. So, the final attacking opportunity go to the Melbourne Storm and it’s a big couple of minutes coming up for both teams. There’s the flick just too far out in front of Ben Baba Barber to gather in. Yeah, you just wonder whether or not that was necessary. They’ve been under such extreme pressure, the Bulldogs, and they’ve been so courageous in what they’ve done. Melbourne Storm have had 22 opportunities with the ball and completed 21 sets of six. Talk about bringing your aame to the big day. Wow. Slater coming in off a scrum victory. Chambers is taken 20 m out. Plays to Widop and then to Manu. Manu running at the shoulder of Graham and Pritchards around the legs or it’s Casiano this time. So Melbourne and a chance to put more points on the board at Halime. Lowries with the ball. You would think with the amount of possession they’ve had, the completions that they’d want a bigger lead than six points at the break. It’s out to Smith gone behind the decoy and Crump puts a kick in. Oh, Justin O’Neal. Justin O’Neal. What a fly. What a fly through the air to make the try. Well, it doesn’t come any better than that from a playmaker when he comes across field here. And I think it was Cooper Kron. It was Kron or with it, but I think Kron. I’m thinking there’s any number of players he can pass this ball to. My last thought is kick. It’s his first thought and he absolutely nails it. absolutely nails it for Justin O’Neal to make the leap. Now, that is sheer perfection, courage to make the play, but sheer perfection in the execution. And on the Kino replay, that just doesn’t come about by accident. That comes about by years of practice and then self-belief on the big night to come up with a play like that in the shadows of Halime. And they really did bring the Bulldogs offense up assuming they would come up and in and create space for the winger down the edge. And then to put it there, O’Neal to make the leap, hold on to the ball despite the attention of Barber and put it down. Their execution is just exemplary. It is phenomenal to play like this on such a big day. I would have thought coach Bellamy at halftime and I only just uttered the words before the try. He wouldn’t have been all that happy with just a six-point lead given all those figures that you’ve been spitting out in the last 5 minutes. Well, when Cameron Smith got the ball at first receiver, I kind of thought he was thinking field goal maybe to take it to seven. Maybe he had the same thoughts as you. Six isn’t enough. But they had their set play to the left. They had the courage to go through with it. the brilliance and the professionalism to execute it. And if Cameron Smith knocks this over, it’s a long, long way back for the Bulldogs. The record of comebacks isn’t all that bad though when behind at Halime. They haven’t been behind at halftime that many times, but I’ll check that during the halftime break. He’s missed it again. Cameron has hooked it across the face of Uprights. And so that is the halftime score, 14-4. And the storm with three tries. Hoffman, Slater, O’Neal, and Perro. James Graham is on report. An allegation of biting. Toyota halfime. All the coals first half action coming up. And a nice event coming up as well at halftime. The eighth immortal arrives. You’ll be greeted by Bobby Fulton, Graeme Langland, Johnny Rael, Wally Lewis, and the families of the late Arty Beaton and Clive Churchill and the family of Red Scaznier. All that when we come back back at the grand final coming to you live and exclusive on the nine network not just around Australia but around the globe and we certainly welcome you to our telecast from down here in Australia. We have Melbourne the number two place team in the Premiership at Halime leading the minor premers Canterbury by 14 points to four. Cameron Smith then the captain for Melbourne leading them back onto the park. Looking at some of the stats of what has happened when Melbourne have led at Halime and David Middleton our statistician tells me that the last 38 times when they’ve led at halfime they have won 37. That is awesome. Canterbury on the other hand when they’ve trailed on seven occasions they’ve won four this season. So it’s not beyond Canterbury and really those figures that you’ll hear us talking about they just can’t keep up. You wouldn’t think at that ratio. 22 completions from 23 sets Melbourne. Nine completions 14 sets Canterbury. And the time in possession is just amazing. 68% of the time the ball has been with Melbourne. Well, much of the battle of big occasion football is to come to the big show and get your game on. The Melbourne Storm have got their game on. They’ve played exactly as the way we’ve seen Melbourne Storm play all season. The Bulldogs on the other hand, it’s nothing like what we’ve seen them play this year. Now granted, they haven’t had a lot of possession, but even in the possession they’ve had, we haven’t seen the passes strung across the field or very rarely have we seen Barber come into the action out wide on one occasion, but the ball was knocked down. So, the Storm have got their game on. The key at Halime for Dez Hassla is to settle the Bulldogs down, have them ignore the 10-point deficit, and get their game on in the second half. Right, Rusty? Cameron Smith starts the second half of the 2012 Grand Final, the Telster Premiership Grand Final with 40 minutes remaining. And Graham, it is that brings the ball back for Canterbury. Andrew Johns is back on the sideline now that he’s been placed back at the grand final via the Blackhawk. That must have been an emotional time for you down there. Yeah, Ravs, it’s been a really lovely couple of days. Um, great family be out there. I’ve I’ve blown away the last three or four days, but let’s talk about the stars of today. I missed the first half. I know you did. 14 to four then the score as Jackson is taken to ground. 15 short of halfway and goes from Ding with a scurry. It had Larry grabbing at him desperately as the ball goes to the blind side for Reynolds to kick. And it goes down. Oh, he’s knocked on Billy Slater. Knocked on. Well, you’ve seen it tonight. Barber missed one at the back and now Slater’s knocked on. I’m not sure he had to attack this the way he did. I mean, he he does it all the time. He always goes 100 mph, but there didn’t seem to be any urgency for him to get that ball and throw his body on it like that. and he just got his knees and elbows driving into the turf and that has shaken the ball loose and offered a really good opportunity for the Bulldogs in the opening minutes of this second half. And the Bulldogs have got to get into their rhythm. They’ve got to get that attacking game flowing. So, the confidence is restored and they start to believe that they can claw their way back here. Melbourne then we go on to the defensive as Canterbury win the scrum and Graham standing at 5/8 and Keane was able to beat Chambers I think it was who came up very quickly and Graham is on the ground he is crunched over played then by Cassiano and here’s David Stag and Canterbury appealing for a high tackle [Applause] Jam low it We got a penalty there. Simple. Okay. Penalty. Don’t run in. You got a penalty. Stay there, Benny. [Applause] Oh, the back foot here. David Stag taken around the neck by Jamon Low. David, I think still looking for a contract for next year. It’s amazing really the quality of the player. And I think he’s uncontracted as Hennis goes on to Stag and now to Kei. Now to Barber. This is Morris with the ball and Josh Morris is forced back. And look at Melbourne now making ground even without the football. Keing to Pritchard and Pritchard will play the ball when let go by Melbourne in front of the uprights 15 m away. It’s out with Graham and he got a short ball away, but Jackson has hammered in defense that seemingly knew that he was coming. Here’s Emis using Reynolds. He beats one, he beats two. He tries to slide through the line. Reynolds is 2 m away from the line. Canterbury down by 10. And is back to Kiki looking for a kick. It’s gone to Barber. Barber has got one-on-one. He puts a kick in and it’s a line drop out for Melbourne. Nice. Nice work there from Benny Barber. I think Katy wanted to kick but there was pressure on him so he threw it to his most dangerous teammate and Barber did really well here. He zigged, he zagged, he steadied, grubbed it into the end goal and was able to come and put enough pressure on Slater to knock it dead. So a repeat set of six for the Bulldogs. Maybe they can grind the storm away as the storm did to them in the first 20 minutes. Welled kick by the Melbourne by the Canterbury fullback Barber sees Canterbury then with sets back to back and Graham it is that comes up and leads the charge down to the 30 m line down the middle of the ground. And comes to the left side. Morris runs across over to the right side. Barber joins in. Now Reynolds is with the ball. Got it back into Hoffman and it’s taken there by Canterbury and I think it’s Jackson played by him. It’s with Inu now and Chrisman Inu 3 me out from the line. And away for Casiano and he goes back. A lofted ball to Keing. Quick to Barber. Barber over the top to Morris. He ducks under one and he’s pulled down. Melbourne’s defense superb at the moment. Sets back to back for Canterbury. Now keying. Here is Pritchard. Andard standing more as a pivot or as a link. Love to think he can get back and wind it up. Here’s Reynolds now putting a care and it’s over to Ward. O’Neal’s corner. There’s a chance for Jackson. No, he’s going into touch. at the rate of knots. Well, that’s great defense from the Melbourne Storm. Reminiscent of what we saw from the Bulldogs early in this game. The kick was a nicely weighted one. Sam Perro flew high. It bounced back the Bulldogs way and Josh Jackson. Well, his eyes must have lit up here after he got the off laid, but that was only until he was confronted by four purple jerseys. I think the referee ruled six again here and the ball will come off Perro and come backwards. It will come out to Jackson. But there is a swarm of purple jerseys here. And look at this. They pick him up, march him. G Whiz, they could have taken him to Circular Key Rabbits. They had a hold of him. He wasn’t going anywhere. It’s a very important call because Canterbury will get another set. So, give or take a couple of tackles. This will be their third set. Here’s Graham launching himself towards the uprights. Andis gets it on to Casiano. Back to Reynolds who’s beaten Neielen and got it over the top to Perro. And Perro is not beaten or should I say is taken by Neielen this time. Jackson works as a pivot. And Donno Casiano and S plays the ball 10 out from Wal Reynolds. So close to the line that he’s millimeters away from the chalk and there very deep back to Keon. Then to Barber and Barber was taken there by Chambers. Ball hit the ground as he was tackled and the referee called Hill. This is the last. Keing gets it to Josh. He puts a little kick in. Slater is going to have to make it down again. It’s a line drop out. This will be their fourth set. Yeah, and again, not a great set of six from the Bulldogs, but it’s saved at the back end by a good fifth tackle option that’s forced a restart. They still can’t quite get into their rhythm. This swarming Melbourne Storm defense is getting up very, very quickly and cutting down the thinking time and the action time for the Bulldogs playmakers. And it’s just not the Bulldogs attack that we’ve become used to. And you’ve got to put that down to the Melbourne defense. The more the Bulldogs can dominate possession at this end though, maybe they can take a little bit of the energy out of this purple defensive line. Cameron Smith’s drop kick is a good one. 55 m and Graham carries the football back as met by Todd Lowry played 40 m out from Melbourne’s line. Barber short to Casiano and Big Sam Casiano 130 kg. Apparently he’s the biggest forward ever to play the game. Stag Keing Barber Morris and Morris loses the ball backwards. Zero is called. Yeah, I think Sisa again got a touch on that and that’s their most productive attacking avenue this left side for the Bulldogs. And Will Chambers is the key man defensively for the Melbourne Storm. If he comes up and in quickly, he must he must stick as Pritchard goes center field on just the second. 22 m out from the line. Can Canterbury crack through? It’s gone back to Barber and Neielson comes up quickly and abruptly puts him to ground. That’s great aggression in defense. Here’s Emis finding Graham. Graham finding Stag and Stag is pulled down 11 m out from the Melbourne line. And away and a crashing Gaziano is stopped a couple of meters from the line. Five gone for the Bulldogs. damage. It goes himself the captain. Has he got the ball down? Referee wants to see it. Last tackle. Please check for grounding. I have an opinion. He has an opinion, Ben Cummings, but he wants to go upstairs for the video refs to look at it. Well, he was actually aided here by a a fairly slow play the ball because it took a long time to get all the defenders off Sam Casiano and everybody was just in a little bit of disarray. So, it’s nine on non captain on captain and the opinion will be that that’s held up. That’s no try. He doesn’t let go Cameron Smith. I was looking to see where he was in that play the ball area because if there was someone going to watch the opposition dummy half it was the storm captain and he got hold of it and he was never going to let him go. Well no try is the ruling held up there and it’s turnover 10 me out from the uprights to Melbourne. So let’s applaud the Melbourne defense there. That was the fourth set they were defending against consecutively. Yeah, and saving tries is as good as scoring. So Cameron Smith can notch himself up one there. He was alert, got hold of the ball, refused to let go. 25 out from their own line. The ball played by Brian Nori. It was carried 35 m out by Sigman. Back to Nor. So the men that Gus calls the foot soldiers, they take it up towards halfway. And here’s Cameron Smith with a dart from Dummy High. pulled down by James Graham. Slater down the half to Kron and Kron goes high. He’s testing Barber again. Barber’s got it. He runs away from Hoffman. Neielson’s got him though. And a very effective set of six here from Melbourne as San D tries to get outside his man include Christinu which he does. Two carries from Brian Nory, one from Brahmich and Manu. Cameron Smith out of dummy half and crock kicked they went the length Jackson now 35 out from their own line Canterbury here’s David Stag back away to Keing to Barber to Morris and Wonger it was going in off his wing making the tackle on the center three quarter Josh Morris the ball has come free he may no he’s ordered a knock on he’s ordered Good knock on high fives here from the Melbourne Storm players. They’ve been really courageous in defense out wide because they’ve been aggressive and thought, well, if if the Bulldogs are going to string these passes together, we’re going to get up there and knock them down. Hoffman got a hand on that as Stag tried to unload it. He’s got away with one there. But the Storm are virtually saying to the Bulldogs, “If you’re good enough to get outside us, well, we’ll stand in the floor, but in the meantime, we’re going to get up there and hassle you as much as we can.” And to this point, they’ve totally styied the Bulldogs attack. Scrum right in the middle of the ground as Slater joins in. Quick play the ball to Smith. Now this is O’Neal who scored that aerial try right on Halime. Wonderful athleticism by Justin O’Neal. Now Casano’s him out of the road. Put a knee into I don’t need you, mate. He’s not going to come in and me out of the road in it. But it was a nudge with the knee and he’s given away a penalty. So, he’s fallen off his discipline completely. In the first half, I said they’re crawling forward. He’s holding his leg. He’s just pushing the knee out, right? Yeah. There’s a thing that the the Melbourne Storm do in the play the ball area when they get up and play the ball, they like to pressure the markers. They like to push into them a little bit. And the Bulldogs have been trying to hold their ground on this and hold them back to their mark. And there’s a little bit of six of one, half a dozen of the other. Cashiana will make the mark and say, “Now get up. I don’t want you pushing me out of the way.” And this is what was led to another penalty in the first half. And has gone to the referee and said, “Stop them trying to walk off the mark.” Casiano stands his mark and says, “I’m not moving.” And that was a probably a silly play, but that’s what the Bulldogs are trying to stop the Melbourne Storm from doing by advancing before they play the ball. and Smith opting to try and put the side. Two converted tries in front. Hasn’t hit the ball that well tonight. One from four. So, we’d like to see this one go over and if not over, dead. Well, he can get them from a 10-point lead to a 12-point lead. That’s a That’s a huge difference. 14-4. Melbourne leading and from 30 m out he may have pulled it again. He has. So again Cameron his head goes down. Throws the tea away in disgust. He just can’t strike it. It’s not the first time he’s had kicking ws in grand finals, is it? I remember a couple of years ago he had an absolute shocker. They won comfortably. They scored a stack of tries, but only if the Bulldogs can get on the board first. Slater spun around in the tackle then by the defense of Casiano. Here’s Bromeh with the ball and he did well. Smith gets it on. Nori passes, finds Manu. Manu taken by Morris and he’s held just outside the 30 m line. Seek Manu. Here is Brahmich again running at stag and Brahmich is 25 m away from the line. Cameron to the middle. Hcliffe goes to the blind and then widen now Neielen. Neielen is inside the 10. Canterbury stretched to the limits at the moment. Smith again deep looking for Widop. And Widop goes on to trunk and here’s the kick and here comes Wong. The ball is loose. It’s come down to Barber and he goes to the ground. They pick him up and put him in the tackle. He surrenders. He surreners in the tackle, mate. He is saying he doesn’t ground. He does not get to ground, mate. Saying that he surrendered in the tackle so the tacklers could go on with it. He’s not on the ground. We’ve seen a number of these over the years where the player goes in and submits in the tackle and referees have ruled as soon as you put a hand on him, he’s tackled. Now Archer is saying he doesn’t get the ball to the ground. He submits, but the Storm hold him up. He doesn’t get the ball to the ground. And now they’re quite within their rights to throw him out over the sideline. So good refereeing there by Tony Archer, but real awareness by the Melbourne Storm players of what Barber was trying to do. He’s having a blind with Chambers. He was a man who raced through and got Barber when Barber offloaded in behind his own line in the first half. They win the scrum. Come to short side. Chambers is with the ball now. life-threatening experience through the year of a blood disorder and he’s another good story. A feelood story in this grand final as it comes from Cameron Smith and it goes to Ryan Henchcliffe. Henchcliffe is just seven meters away as you can see on that wide shot. Smith again on to Kron and Kron is held by Jackson. Right. Melbourne by 10 and it was coming back towards Smith and now it’s gone back to Broly and back to Smith and quickly it’s hot potato football over to Nory and Nori to play the ball on tackle five. Smith goes to his blindside runners and Barber is there. So it’s a line drop out for Canterbury. They’re perfect. They’re absolutely perfect. The Melbourne Storm 60 minutes tonight. The courageous survivors of the Bali bombings 10 years on. We celebrate their unbreakable spirit with an unforgettable reunion. A very special must-see episode of 60 Minutes. It’s on tonight following the football. He’s getting very frustrated. Benny Barber. The game hasn’t come to him the way he’d like and Melbourne have put a lot of pressure on him there at the back. They’ve got to turn them away here again. The Bulldogs. So, Inu’s kick didn’t have the volume of a couple of earlier kicks from him and Nori has been superb as he charges back again. Those standing tops have been tremendous. Great meter getters. Romage takes it inside the 20. Billy Slater pulled up a bit propy from that scrum win earlier, but he’s moving a bit more freely now as Croft is claimed by Chris Keaty. 15 out from the Canterbury line as they come away to Manu and Manu runs the play at Keating. That doesn’t surprise me. Smith now sweeps it from shortage short and Melbourne lose the ball. It’s up here. No advantage there. Manu losing the ball. No advantage. Canterbury. So he’ll take it out to the 10 m line. Subscribe, mate. Subscribe. bump steer there. Ryan thought it was Sikamano. In fact, it’s Richie Fosso is out there now. His first touch, not a memorable one. See, the time ticks away quickly, doesn’t it? We’re down to under 22 minutes left in the game. Still 10-point margin. Bulldogs desperately trying to get some rhythm here. Sam Curry taken down. Fosso took the place of Henchcliffe. Fosso, of course, another of the mid-season transfers involved in this game. This period for Todd Larry at the moment, 30 m out from the Canterbury line. They’ve got some work to do and time is winding down. We’ve gone past the 3/4 mark of the game. And this is Tolman taking it up to the halfway line. Playing it to Andis. Andis to Keing. Keing. He stabs it down, but it couldn’t have found Billy Slater in a better way. He’s tackled out on the 30 meter line. Melbourne then scoring three tries. They scored the first in the game at the seventh minute. One of their pet plays down the left side and Hoffman took the first try of the grand final. This is Chambers. He’s able to fend away from Eastwood and he’s got the ball just into Canterbury territory. Here’s Smith back to K. Then a little dummy before finding Manu and he’s held there by Josh Morris and Chris Keading. Talking of Chambers, he the doctors were thinking he might have had leukemia. The ball goes across to Nori. That’s how serious it was for him. A couple of years with Queensland Reds and then he went to Ireland and played with Monster, but he’s had a a big fight this year. He’s in the grand final as Kron puts a kick in that finds Touch and we will break at the grand final and come back in just a moment. [Applause] Tonight’s official attendance standing up for the premiership grand final 82,976 together just wait till it’s out Cooper there in Richard Chris ball in Chris ball in [Applause] his right it’s a grand final that’s attracted a record crowd to the reconfigured stadium. 82,976 is a ground record for Melbourne versus Canterbury at the 2012 Grand Final. Jackson goes on to Tolman. Tolman to Keing King to Barber. Barber’s turned a couple of them around. Barber’s down the left side. He kicks to the center. Josh Morris is after it. Can he get a bounce? Can he get a bounce? No, he can’t. It’s gone over the dead ball line. The Bulldogs crowd, they went up as one. Well, can you believe that? Have a look at that ship way back there, mate. That’s a Benny Barber’s got into the back field. And you knocked it on. I knocked it on. Cuz your touch has gone forward. You got to reg. Josh Morris was looming up on the inside just waiting for a bounce. This will look good from head-on. Barber finally steps his way through the line. He sees Morris has gone back to the inside. He kicks. He just wants a bounce. He kicks again. Give me a bounce. No, terrible bounce. He gets a touch. He knocks it on there. And then Slater will come from behind and doesn’t give him the second grab. Beautiful camera work. Look at the desperation in the Melbourne defense. Dez Hassler throws his hands in the air. That was a big moment and that was reminiscent of the last time they met up in Mai where Ben Barber made a break down the left hand side, kicked deliberately back to his right. On that occasion, Josh Morris reathered and scored and they were close again. Neielson now [Applause] play by Fosso and he got a little nudge with the knee in the tackle. So Cameron Smith out on his own 40 meter line and here is Jesse Jesse Brahmage very hard to pull down apparently basically followed his brother to training at Melbourne one day and did something that attracted the attention of one of the junior coaches and he said we might have a look at him. I tell you what he’s been a wonderful purchase that’s marked in goal so comes out to the 20 still got him offside and Melbourne have to go back to the 30 mil line with at least one foot on that line. Well, the Canterbury crowd were booing because he wasn’t allowed to restart, but he’s got to wait for his own teammates to come back on side. So, Eastwood will play the ball now for Canterbury coming up towards the 64th minute of the grand final. 16 minutes 16 minutes requiring 10 points. Here they are using forwards to take the ball across the ground. That’s touched by Melbourne. It’s a knock on against Melbourne’s Dane Nielsen. So Canterbury will get the football. Well, look how far Dane Nielsen comes up here in defense to cut this off. And this is what I couldn’t understand about a lot of teams this year defending against the Bulldogs. When you look at the high shot, they start to string these passes together. Look where Neielson comes all the way infield. He reads the one out the back and he says, “If you can get around me, I’ll stand and applaud, but I’m going to be here all night.” And they’re not giving the Bulldogs the room that they’ve normally had all season. Now they go down the short side to Christen Inu. And he’s away from one or two and then he’s picked up and spiraled into the ground by Fyoso. Tolman wants a run. The number eight for Canterbury. Inis then looks for Graham. Grahams with the ball. He goes back to Kading who dies and tries to go through Chris Keading who started the year in New South Wales Cup. He was understudied to Trent Hodkinson who suffered injury and now Chris Keading the kid from Cabraa in a grand final which they’re trailing in at the moment by 10. Jackson, he’s flung down 10 m out. Here’s a chance for Canterbury, although it’s the last tackle. Bar got an awful pass. Got a good kick on that. And up they go. The bat down from Jonathan Wright and Eastwood has come from nowhere. But I think it might have gone forward. Hey, hang on. Off Jonathan check. There’s a knock on, mate. It has to have gone forward surely. It was a wicked pass to Barber who had to kick on the spur. So, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not they stayed on side. Yeah, they have. You can’t give them offside there. Right will go up and he’s pretty much allowed to punch it back in field and that’s gone forward for sure. What happens after this doesn’t matter. There it is. That’s a knock on. Yeah, knock on will be the order against Jonathan Wright. Greg Eastwood. The elation turns to deflation. Back on. No try goes up official. So back out Cameron play the ball to the 10 m line for the play the ball in favor of Melbourne. Time is becoming the enemy now. Under 15 minutes to go. [Applause] Melbourne grand final 99 then in six 7 8 9 and 12. So, their sixth grand final and this would be, another grand final victory, but this will be officially for them if they hang on just their second official premiership, [Applause] which I know is a burning thought for a lot of people that follow the storm. Storm Captain Smith picks it up. and talking of the people that follow them. Gee, I tell you what, you’re ought to be congratulated. The crowd you’ve brought to me, brought to Sydney to watch your team tonight. It’s a tribute to you. Here’s Nory playing the ball 40 m out from Canada’s line. Cro kicking and it’s just putting a bit of pressure on him. It’s going down to Sam Perro and and then a flying Justin O’Neal. He’s he’s so safe. St. Paul and he scored a beautiful try. He scored the only try for the dogs but he is so safe plays the ball inside the 30 m line and Reynolds picks it up and goes from dummy half and he says play on. So he’ll send him back and play the ball. He’ll send him back. Push up. Push up. Push up. No, he was right. He was right. Tackle four. So here we go into tackle five or tackle four I should say with Graham. There’s Hler getting Frank Pritchard out. One of his attacking men Josh Jackson leaving the field. James Graham in the second hand keeping chance here down the left giving it to Morris. Morris in it away right down the left side. There’s the kick but Melbourne are there and it’s with Chambers again. Well, the desperation is certainly there from the Melbourne defense, isn’t it? That time they got outside them, but there was plenty of cover defense coming through and I think Cooper Croc has come from infield to get across there and spoil the right kick. That’s great desperation from the halfback. This is O’Neal on the 40 m line and Slater gives it to Proctor. Proctor takes Melbourne. almost 10 m into Canterbury’s territory. In fact, precisely 10 m. Here’s Fosso again. And that might have hurt the tackler more than the the ball carrier James Graham getting up gingerely as Kron challenges Canterbury out wider. 20 m in. There’s Ridol kicking for Slater. Slater’s coming at 100 miles an hour. There’s the bat down. Oh, Brian Nury has scored in a grand final. Brian play a grand final. Well, you called it right when you said that the kick was for Billy Slater. He got a little bit lost on his way through, but he made a late adjustment, did Billy, and battered it straight back. It hasn’t been awarded to Brian Nory, who’s been an unsung hero for a couple of seasons for the Melbourne Storm. and along with Jesse Bromich has been as good as any player on the field this afternoon evening. Gareth Whidup is the kicker now. Brian Nory is in front of the kicker unfortunately. So he is offside and it’s no try. That is that is brilliant work from Billy Slater. I know this will be pulled back for no try, but Billy Slater actually watches Ben Barber to know when to leap for the ball. The ball was coming from behind Billy was that quick, but he watches Barber’s eyes and then leaps up to knock the ball back. A let off Michael for the Bulldogs. Michael here. Let’s explain because we are going to a global audience. the only man that can put you on side is the man that kicks the ball. And the pictures on replay showed that Brian and I feel sad for the big bloke. It was only his seventh try in a career that uh Craig Bellamy resurrected when he gave him a contract at Melbourne. Can we just see that shot again and show you what Billy Slater was looking at when he came forward on Benny Barber? We’ll keep up with the action here with a moment. save it. But it shows you how brilliant this Melbourne fullback is. Greg Eastwood looking for a penalty and it’s gone from Payne. In fact, it’s gone back to Payne and then to Barber. Cory Payne in 16. He hasn’t seen a lot of minutes through the finals. And that’s Fenukan who’s only just come on as well. And tries to get them going with Cory Payne. Greg Eastwood Christian Inu. He pushes away there from one and it’s O’Neal who comes again. Canterbury keeping it alive. Reynolds 10 m out. Five tackles gone. So the kick will come from Keing. There it goes. Jonathan writes the jump up and it’s gone straight over the top of them. I do believe it’s out on the full Benny. Yeah, it’s not a good kick. The kicker’s got to give the chasers a chance. So you need to be getting that coming down on the line 10 m in from the touch. So the contest can involve a few of your players. Let’s just go back and have a look at this Billy Slater thing. Watch Billy Slater how he looks at Benny Barber to see when Benny reaches. As soon as he sees Benny go up for the ball, he knows it’s coming down and time to turn. He wasn’t watching the ball Slater. He was watching Barber. They teach that in the NFL. over in America to their defensive end. Neielson were inside the final 10. Oh, Hoffman was a little bit lucky that Reynolds went in with a shoulder charge that missed the mark. Cameron Smith is now tackled by Fenukan, youngest player in the grand final. Hcliffe and he’s held there by Chman. Right down the middle comes Melbourne search of their second premiership and Kron’s kit is taken in the in goal on the four. So it comes out from the 20 m line and they all get the still mate again. Still offside, mate. Frank was in front of Barbara therefore was called back by the referee. Jesse up and out. They’ve done a good job keeping Benny Barber quiet on kick return, haven’t they? Everything’s been high in the air or away from him. And the defense arrives when he gets the ball. is Ronald just into Melbourne’s half of play. Tolman linking Payne spiraling out of a Nory attempt to tackle and he’s still able to get the ball away. Cory Payne Keing out to the left side to Barber Barber inside ball to Morris. Morris steps off his right foot. He’s tackled on the 20 m line. That’s the fourth tackle for the Bulldogs. And now It’s gone to Cory Payne again. Josh Reynolds is taken though by Gareth Whid and he’ll play the ball slowly. Can supporters looking for a penalty as Keening floats it to Barber. Barber short on the inside to Morris. He lofts it over the top to Jonathan Wright. He puts in a little kick and Billy Slater is going to let it go again. Very well defended by Melbourne. And when Josh Morris came back on the inside into some space, it was Brian Nory and Ryan Higcliffe. They’re in cover. Time. These Melbourne Storm players, they cover each other so well. Just have a look. They’re heading back. He’s heading back Josh Morris and the big number 10 with the utility Ryan Hinchcliffe there to save the day in the middle of the field. But even on the next play, Peter, when they went wide on the next play, Melbourne had got back, got on side, and rushed forward again to cut down. It’s been a a meticulous display in defense from the Melbourne side. Really aggressive. This is O’Neal. Now for Brahmage. There’s an old saying, Rabbits. You know, in big games, you’ve got to meet them to beat them. And I think that’s what the Melbourne Storm have done today. They’ve gone up and met the Bulldogs before they can get their game on. [Applause] One thing Melbourne have done very successfully is take the crowd out of the equation for the bulk of the contest. Hinchcliffe is taken then by Tolman. Seven minutes out from full time. Man premieres still trailing by 10 points. And up goes Perro. And that might well he’s ruled he’s ruled. Okay. And now he’s given a penalty to Canterbury. Oh, you’re all over him. He’s he’s penalized him. Not for what I thought though. I would have thought he was still in midair. But he’s got a penalty anyway for Proctor being all over him. Here’s Perro. No, he might have had a foot back on the ground. Well, we can still get a grand stand finish here if the Bulldogs can manufacture a try. of it. 6 and 1/2 minutes left. It’s not over yet. Pitcher away to pain. Now to Reynolds and he goes on to Barber on the right side of the ground now. Here’s Inu and Inu puts a flick ball on. It’s been caught incredibly over there by Sam Per into Eastwood now and doesn’t quite know what to do with it. So he takes them on just inside the 30 m line. 20 meters in from the eastern side of the ground. Ground record crowd here tonight at the grand final and the ball to be played here by Tolman. 25 m away. Now it’s with Casiano. He flips it out to a an unexpecting Greg Eastern who went back though and now was Reynolds. Reynolds comes to Proctor, circles him, passes to Pritchard, passes to Morris. Coming up quickly is Wonga and Morris will play the ball 25 meters out from the Melbourne line. Pritchard it is who passes to Reynolds and Reynolds puts a kick in. Smith makes the tackle. It came off Melbourne surely as they flew high and six more tackles as Barber with the football restarts the tackle count. Here’s the chance for Canterbury to maybe rally late in the game. Casiano charging towards the uprights and Sam Casiano with three and four Melbourne players attracted to him. Yeah, they look a chance this way if they can get it out. Payne is with the ball. He does that. Kading’s only just got a hand on it and he’s thrust to the ground by Chambers. So Keening Inis goes to the right side and Tolman stuff and plays the ball. Almost a wasted tackle. Inis for Keading. Keing a bat on by Reynolds. Picked up by Morris. He’s tackled 10 m out from the line. They’ve got two tackles left. Away goes Reynolds from downh. And he’s tackled 2 meters out from the line. A desperate last ditch here by Canterbury. Morris to keeping. There goes the care. Casiano’s in amongst all of that, but Whidup comes down with it. And Melbourne have extinguished the attack of Canterbury again. It’s outstanding defense, isn’t it? They’ve just been absolutely relentless with their willingness to come forward. Neielson. In fact, it’s not Neielson, but Tolman [Applause] back on for Melbourne. The two is Wong. Smith with a run takes with up with him. Melbourne Storm fans at the southern end of the ground are starting to find voice. The flags are in the air. They can feel this might be the end coming and a much vindicated Premiership, official Premiership in their keeping. So got a ball out to Barber. Barber’s going down the right side and reaches halfway. But that man in the six jumper Whit is there to bring him down. Inu passes. Payne links it. Eastwood does the same. Now Inennis drifts across. Keing sweeps in from the back. Came off Wonger and it’ll be a knock on against Melbourne. Albe it time consuming. Craig Bellamy can’t relax. refuses to relax. Refuses to relax. He’s still going. There’s still 2 and 1/2 minutes left on the clock. Relax, Craig. He’s sucking on the water bottle. He’s handing out instructions. Trying to pack. It’s going to be stand up. They’re not trying to pack. Time remains on the Melbourne Storm Fins. Six grand finals for Craig Bellamy as a player and coach. He’s won three. Melbourne side inflicted a thrashing in 07 to Manley and then returning serve. And look at that, a sea of purple flags, signifying that they’ve seen enough. They’re confident enough to accept accept the trophy. But Reynolds it is with other ideas and he’s pulled down again by Whitam. 30 m out from the line. Inu got a ball away and now Inennis comes around and gets a ball to Eastwood. He beat Proctor. He beat Hingcliffe. He’s gone inside the 20 m line and a good effort by Greg Eastwood. Play it for Michael Enis. Away they go out wider to Casiano and Casiano unloads to Pritchard. Pritchard flung down and chambers. It was again with good defense. Coleman short to Payne. Payne is 10 meters out. He puts in a little toe poke and it’s been cleaned up over there by Justin O’Neal who I think got back into the field of play. And that’s your grand final gone. Craig Bellamy can relax now. And so too all the Melbourne Storm supporters. They will be the 2012 Premers. This is Chambers. He’s had a magnificent game, particularly in defense. All the outside backs way of being magnificent in that department. No coincidence that they knocked a few balls down as they were getting up in the face. Neielson was great on the pass side. So for his winger own Neil Chambers and Wer on this side. I’d be keeping a camera on Craig Bellamy for the full time suit here. So the kick by Cameron Smith. Jonathan Wright picks it up inside the final minute of play. And is it not fitting that the season opened with a ground record crowd at Newcastle at Har Stadium on the first day of March and it’s going to close in front of a ground record crowd at A&Z on the last day of September. It’s gone to Reynolds now with their 10 inner rears and per it is that’s able to make some ground before finding Barbara. It’s gone on to Inu. He kicks and Slater it is that eventually puts it into touch. So they won’t be Oh, he’s relaxed. He’s finally he’s finally let down and is now able to celebrate this win by a wonderful side, the Melbourne Storm, taking the grand final of 2012 as they did in 1999 in just their second year. They had that hiccup of course with the seven and the nine premierships being taken from them. But if you look at their record since they started in 98, they’ve been to the grand final seven out of the 14 years. 14-4 full time and that of course was the halftime score. And they had a flying start to the season but then didn’t win a game between round 16 and 21. and all of a sudden you thought, well, hang on. Are they going to to get into the finals, which they did, came into this game with seven straight victories from that time? And I think that they’ve just about saved their their best for the last three matches. Certainly against South and Manley in the playoffs. Superb. and they’ve carried that on tonight against the gutsy Canterbury side, but a team that really weren’t allowed to to produce what has been so successful for them all season. [Music] So, the on ground team of Wally Lewis and Andrew Johns will be looking for the people that have entertained us for the last hour and a half. is Andrew John’s right now. We are Melvin Storm Captain, how proud of you, mate, to captain the Melbourne Storm to victory. Oh, mate. What do you What do you say in moments like this? You know, we uh it was part of that part of that season there where a lot of people were writing it writing us off, Joey, and uh this team stuck strong, mate. We just uh we just got back to our basics of training and on the field, made it happen. It happened for us tonight. We we played against a quality opposition tonight, mate. We we uh we got the job done, mate. You’ve been through a rebuilding phase, you know, a few years ago, few few down moments at the club. What’s it mean to you to be here now after you’ve rebuilt the club? Oh, mate, I you know, what do you say? I’ve been asked a few times whether this one, if we won it, whether it would be sweeter than the others. But I guess there’s a small spot that says yes, but you know, mate, winning a grand finals, that’s just what you aim for. But you know the the congratulations has got to go to the club and the coaching staff. You know we were gunned a few years ago mate with our players and you know morale wasn’t at its highest that you know it’s ever been but we built this club back up and last year we nearly got there. This year we did and we uh we made it count mate. Go and enjoy it pretty. Thanks Joey. Making you put words to how you feel at the moment. Yeah mate. Just lost for words mate. Gutted. It’s been um been such an enjoyable year and to to go out like that, it’s just devastating, mate. But oh mate, I mean, take the emotion out of it, mate. I’m just so proud of our boys and where they’ve come from, mate. They they should really hold their heads up high. They’ve they really turned the corner at this club and, you know, we’re going to be around for a few more years yet. The 70% ball possession just too much to claw back from the first half. Yeah, mate. our defense was brilliant in the first half or you know but just too many too many unforced errors and just allowed a good side like Melbourne into the game and you know um I thought 10 points at Halime was a credit to our our defense but honestly I thought we had a chance to come back there but full credit to Melbourne mate they’re a good side and they deserve it mate sure you want to be your teammates mate thanks for your time back to you Wally thanks mate I’m with Billy Slater Billy that was one special performance from your boys. It was Will Wally, it was uh mate, premiership’s a one- on-one defense and mate, our boys, that’s what we build our game on, you know, since I’ve been at the club and since Craig’s been at the club and, you know, today was it was special. Defense, mate, defense. That’s all I can say. Both teams defended pretty well. It wasn’t too many points scored in it. Full credit to our boys. They just kept turning up, kept turning up. Had so many elusive players in that side and our boys just kept turning up. It did appear as though you just simply frustrated the Bulldogs out of the game. The defense up the middle was was unbelievable. Could you notice any frustration in the in the Bulldogs attack? Oh yeah. We uh we knew what they were going to throw at us and we come up with a plan to to shut it down. So you know their big play out wide. We uh you know we need to get our line speed up there and put a bit of pressure on their ball players even though they were forwards. So full credit to our coaching staff that come up with the game plan and and the boys just executed it so well. Like I said, our defense was exceptional tonight. It was there was one try scored and that was probably from me being out of position, but I think the coach will forgive me for that. Well, congratulations, mate. Wonderful performance. Back to you, Rams. Okay, Wally, thank you for that. Brett Fitler as well. Andrew John’s as well. It’s been a busy night for him. Andrew John’s the immortal. Um, but he got the job done. We’ll take a break and when we come back, of course, it’ll be the presentation of the Telstra Premiership Trophy for 2012. Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed a champion team here this evening take out the NRL Premiership. A round of applause for the Melbourne Storm. Also, thank you Canterbury Bankstown for supplying so many great memories for this year and also helping to provide a great atmosphere here this evening. One of the best grand final atmospheres you’ve ever witnessed. So, congratulations also to the dogs. Round of applause. Like to welcome the official party. Shane Matisky, the interim CEO of the Australian Rugby League. Kate McKenzie, the group managing director, Telra Innovation Products and Marketing, the New South Wales Premier, the Honorable Mr. Barry O Farrell MP, John Grant, the IRLC chairman, and Joyce Churchill. Also welcome to the stage the Telster Ringbearers from the Sydney Children’s Hospital. Really big night for these kids. Congratulations for being a part of it. Ladies and gentlemen, first up this evening, the Clive Churchill medal winner. I’d like to invite Joyce just to come over by Stay where you are. Yeah. Yes, that’s fine. Ladies and gentlemen, the winner is Cooper Croc. [Applause] Congratulations, Kubby. You are a you are a great player and you had a wonderful wonderful year and a wonderful game. Uh thank you very much. Uh first I’d just like to thank uh Ken who breaks down football club outstanding achievement. Des Hler and Michael thank you very much. Um you know no doubt you’ve achieved a lot this year so congratulations uh to all the fans sponsors of the game. Uh you make with this you guys are what makes this game special to play and um thank you very much uh to the Melbourne Storm Rugby League club. Hey boys, it’s a real pleasure to play with you guys. You are my mates and uh thank you very much for tremendous performance. Um thank you very much guys. Well I’m Cougar Rothman’s medal winner or rather the uh Clive Churchill medal going back two many years there. Ladies and gentlemen, the runners up for this year the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs. Would you please welcome to the stage the captain Michael Andis to receive their medals to be followed by his players. Congratulations to you, Michael. Terrific season. Just fell short at the end. Like to invite the players up on stage at the same time as um Michael responds. Uh firstly, I uh I’d like to uh congratulate Craig Bellamy uh all their staff and their players. They really are a a great football side and and congratulations to you guys tonight. Well done. Uh like to thank all the sponsors, uh Telstra, Gary from JCAR, uh Dolane House, and all the sponsors. I’d like to thank all the members and supporters that have made this such a special season. I’d like to thank the board of directors and all the staff. Uh I I really thank Dez uh and and the staff. They’ve done a tremendous job with this football team and I’m so proud of where the boys have come and where we’ve got to all be to a disappointing end. To the marketing and admin staff have done a terrific job for us this season and this club’s in greatstead at the moment and we’ll certainly be back next year. I’d like to thank the family of all the players. Uh so much has gone into this season and so much commitment and dedication from everyone involved and at time it’s very timeconuming and thank you for your patience and we’re really we’re really grateful. And last but not least, I’d love to thank my players. They’ve been courageous this year. They were courageous in defeat today. And I’m so proud of the boys and where they’ve got to and we’ve really built a a great playing group there and we’re certainly going to be back next year. Thank you. Round of applause once again for Cannibal Banks Town Bulldogs. Well done. Thank you very much, Michael. Ladies and gentlemen, now to the uh the referees and touch judges. Would you give them a round of applause as they come up and accept their medallions for being a part of this terrific night? fellas, they really love you. It’s just the way they show it. [Applause] And now, the spoils of a wonderful season. Ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome to the stage the captain of the Melbourne Storm, Cameron Smith. [Music] like now to invite Shane Matisky and Kate McKenzie to present the trophy to the winning captain. Enjoy the moment. You’ve done it before. You’ve had that well rehearsed. Congratulations to you, Cameron. You have had uh a terrific season as as have anybody who’s made this grand final and and well done to your team. Thanks, Kenny. Uh firstly um firstly I’d like to thank everyone that come out to the match today. You uh you uh you you certainly supplied a great atmosphere you know not only for uh you know for the Bulldogs but for us too. So uh thank you for coming out. Everyone in the purple, that’s a outstanding effort, guys, to make the trip up to Sydney. You are an Amy Park every week, guys, and you travel away with us to all our away games. We love you as all. Thanks, guys. Uh, thank you. Next must go to the Bulldogs, Dez, Michael, and all the boys. Thank you for a great game. I think uh, you know, all the fans enjoyed it. Everyone at home on TV would have loved that match. It was a tight affair. You boys have been a great football side all season. You you well deserved the the minor premiership. We we’ve had great battles all throughout the years, boys. So, well done. [Applause] [Music] Next, I’d just like to thank our sponsors, Crown, Suzuki, and all of our other partners for their support this year. You guys have been outstanding. Thank you to our staff, all the administration back in Melbourne, our coaching staff led by Craig. Obviously, you’re uh all of your sprays have paid off this year, mate. Thank you to all of our our medical staff for getting the boys right. To all of our partners and families and the kids, you guys are amazing. He’s having you you’ve had to put up with a bit this year. So, um, thank you for your support, guys. We love you. And lastly, to all of these players over here in the purple jerseys and the gray suits, boys. You’ve been outstanding this year. We uh we started really well, but then we hit a rough spot. A lot of people were doubting where we’re going to finish this year, but we hung tough. We trained really hard. We just stuck solid down there, and we uh we got the rewards. It’s all the boys moving on. All the very best to you and your families, boys. We’ve loved you being down at the Melbourne Storm. Good luck for the future. The big Jamon Low who’s hanging up the boots this year, mate. Congratulations. What a way to go out. You’ve been a big part of our success this year, mate. Thank you. And uh how good’s that feeling? Can’t wait to get back to Melvin. We’ll see you down there. on you Cameron. Okay, the team now one through. Ladies and gentlemen, Billy Slater, Caesar Waga, Dane Nielson, Will Chambers, Justin O’Neal, Gareth Whittoop Kron, Jesse Brahmich Cameron’s already with us Brian Nori Tigamanu [Applause] Ryan Hoffman Todd Lowry [Applause] Ryan Hinchcliffe Kevin Proctor, Jamian Lowe, [Applause] Richard Baro, ladies and gentlemen, the Melbourne Storm. Also, Craig Bellamy, the coach. Warm round of applause for a fabulous team on a fabulous new year. Congratulations to them all. Okay. And the coach has got a smile like you swallow the canary. Well done, Craig Bellamy. Like to thank the official party. Thank you very much for being a part of this. It’s been a tremendous grand final, but enjoyed so many terrific moments and these guys really deserve the presents and the prizes that are coming their way. Once again, a round of applause. The team photograph, the champions, the Melbourne Storm and the coach. Thank you ladies and gentlemen and enjoy the rest of the evening. Safe journey home. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Neverland. [Applause] guys. Well done. Thank you.
