Official GRAND FINAL 2016 Cronulla Sutherland Sharks v Melbourne Storm, Sunday 2 October 7:15pm @ANZ Stadium

[Greg86]

Yeah they were all over storm to start with, just could crack em. Melbourne just kept turning up

 

[bort]

im not sure penrith could have started any better, they got the ball off the original kick off and completed their set

i remember seeing a stat - penrith tackled in melbournes 20 - 26, melbourne 2 - yet melbourne were up 16-0

it was just a strange game

By the start I mean like the full first 20 or so, not just the very first set.
Penrith were panicky and rushed by Melbourne a lot, those 26 tackles they had in Storms 20 involved a lot of rushed passes and players being caught flat footed, flicks out the back a player has to chase 10m backwards to regather, that sort of thing.
Kikau was dropping/wasting balls all over the place. Penrith needed to take a breath and adjust, play a step deeper if need be, and be prepared to grind it out. Storm were ready for them and (sorry Gus) outplayed them.

Yeah they were all over storm to start with, just could crack em. Melbourne just kept turning up

They got a bit frantic at times being so close but couldn't convert into points. That's where you end up with mistakes, including the likes of a big lofted pass to get intercepted.

 

[Sparkles]

Penrith had the talent, but Melbourne's defence rattled them. Cleary never looked liked causing any issues outside of his try... he really needed to be less the general and take on the line more.

Gus and Freddy are the absolute worst. The biggest traversty of the night was that there was no Kayo option to watch the game.

 

[bort]

Penrith had the talent, but Melbourne's defence rattled them. Cleary never looked liked causing any issues outside of his try... he really needed to be less the general and take on the line more.

Gus and Freddy are the absolute worst. The biggest traversty of the night was that there was no Kayo option to watch the game.

Penrith had the talent but lacked the hard edge and experience that got us home against Storm.

 

[MMsharks]

If your D is where our's is at we don't have good foundations of a FG footy side let alone any premiership fundamentals. 40 odd missed tackles each week we were lucky the comp was reduced by 4 rounds another month we're probably 14th!

HUH?!?!
thats why I said our D is a long way off???
(i added an after post)
like I said would love to have the defence of 2016 back

 

[Proud Shark]

2003 - penrith roosters #1
2009 - melbourne v parra #2
2005 - wests v cows #3
2004 - dogs v roosters #4
2015 - Cows v broncs #5

Interesting. Was reading a thread the other day on this topic and a lot of neutrals held 2016 as the best/one of in the nrl era. Genuinely was in the balance the whole time and could have flipped at any moment.

2015 was **** till the finish.
2004 I can't really remember if I'm honest.
2005 is only there for that pass.
2009 will forever be tainted by the cheats.
2003 was great but still not anywhere near as gripping.

2019 was awesome till the 6 again call.

TLDR 2016 was the best.

 

[snowman]

Our grand final was actually a **** boring game, we just won

 

[Nulla Boy]

Our grand final had so many moments that even non Sharks/storm fans remember :

The barba scrumbase try
The Storm comeback
Will Chambers non pass
Fifita's Try
The last minute of play
And the fact all this led to a club winning their first premiership in 50 years should make it at least Top 3 GF'S of all time.
(Think about it, if broncos won 2015 the game would not be talked about the way it is, the fact it was NQ first title added that extra element)
2016 is so underrated it's not funny.
Every other "classic" GF maybe had 1 or 2 moments that stand out.

 

[Sparkles]

I'm a little bit biased, but I thought our GF was a pretty tense, gripping battle. Definitely some great moments Nulla, that spiced things up. The scoreline was close until the final seconds with leads switches, both teams were coming for each other all game, there was real spite shown that gave it a whole other element (not that many GF's had that real rivalry) and some inspired highlight reel moments.

Personally the Cows v Broncs game is the one I enjoyed watching the most. Such an epic finish.

 

[stormshark]

Penrith had the talent but lacked the hard edge and experience that got us home against Storm.

Correct Agree, In hindsight, Pamfers needed maybe one additional really Tough dirty forward. Yeo and Fisher Harris were good, just needed one pounding forward in the middle maybe. ie a Prior type GF game where he wacked and wacked away, with Bromich first.

 

[CHOGM]

how do you focus on smith? teams have been trying that for a decade + and it doesn't work. and even if u are somehow succesful they still have hughes, munster and pappa that can hurt you

you need to play the storm up the middle and be aggressive - our sharks showed the way years ago. panthers attack is excellent and all but from the start they were trying to spread the ball wide and while it almost worked a few times the storms scramble is too good for that to be successful early game

it worked later on with fatigue a factor but too late by then. they just need to defend better in that first half and play a bit more conservatively and they were in with a shot. that half time defect was just too much and the panthers errors really hurt them. maybe pressure and the occasion got to them more than they expected but many panthers fans also think Ivan got his bench a bit wrong and went away from what had worked well for them the past few months. the panthers scraped by against good opposition in their finals game but perhaps the writing was on the wall.

the Storm blew away the raiders in the first 20 mins the week before as well

Totally agree about the Pennies going wide. No point, they have great forwards. There’s an interview with Ennis recently where he talks about how they basically had a rule before the GF, if he can get the ball to anyone lining up Smith, he does it. They all talked about it. And the outside backs were instructed to run at Smith too. It was the number one part of the gf plan by his account. It’s why Smith ended up making 70 odd tackles that game.

I would have thought at age 37, the Panthers would just do the same this year. Smith and Bellamy are the only common denominator in that teams success of the last 20 odd years, and only one of them can take the field. Every team should do it every time they play the storm, and hopefully the guy gets a season ending injury, because he’s bloody old. It’s a contact sport, make him contact a lot.

Ivan Cleary lost the GF, not the 17 players IMO.

 

[HaroldBishop]

I thought Penrith had them stretched on plenty of ocassions in the first 20 by going wide. No idea how they didn't score.

 

[bort]

Totally agree about the Pennies going wide. No point, they have great forwards. There’s an interview with Ennis recently where he talks about how they basically had a rule before the GF, if he can get the ball to anyone lining up Smith, he does it. They all talked about it. And the outside backs were instructed to run at Smith too. It was the number one part of the gf plan by his account. It’s why Smith ended up making 70 odd tackles that game.

I would have thought at age 37, the Panthers would just do the same this year. Smith and Bellamy are the only common denominator in that teams success of the last 20 odd years, and only one of them can take the field. Every team should do it every time they play the storm, and hopefully the guy gets a season ending injury, because he’s bloody old. It’s a contact sport, make him contact a lot.

Ivan Cleary lost the GF, not the 17 players IMO.

Smith is a crafty ****, I have faith in him not making many more tackles than he is comfortable making.
Look at one armed Cronk for Roosters, he knew exactly where to be to not get run at.

We were targeting Smith to get their props agitated, not because we thought it would get one over him.

I thought Penrith had them stretched on plenty of ocassions in the first 20 by going wide. No idea how they didn't score.

Disciplined high effort defence by Melbourne to recover mixed with paniced decision making by Penrith who were more desperate to score than they should have been early.

 

[Capital_Shark]

I thought Penrith had them stretched on plenty of ocassions in the first 20 by going wide. No idea how they didn't score.

Storm are very good at creating the illusion of space outwide.

 

[CHOGM]

Smith is a crafty ****, I have faith in him not making many more tackles than he is comfortable making.
Look at one armed Cronk for Roosters, he knew exactly where to be to not get run at.

We were targeting Smith to get their props agitated, not because we thought it would get one over him.



Disciplined high effort defence by Melbourne to recover mixed with paniced decision making by Penrith who were more desperate to score than they should have been early.

Thats not Ennis’ take at all. “Cut the head off the snake” are his words. Running at Smith to nullify him was the plan according to him, and after the game Flanno approached Ennis and Lewis and showed them Smiths tackle count, smiles all round. Smith made 67 tackles. He didn’t get out of the way.

 

[stormshark]

Thats not Ennis’ take at all. “Cut the head off the snake” are his words. Running at Smith to nullify him was the plan according to him, and after the game Flanno approached Ennis and Lewis and showed them Smiths tackle count, smiles all round. Smith made 67 tackles. He didn’t get out of the way.

Jnr reps 101 Coaching, forwards run at halves and hooker(if he's small)

 

[kotwben]

Interesting. Was reading a thread the other day on this topic and a lot of neutrals held 2016 as the best/one of in the nrl era. Genuinely was in the balance the whole time and could have flipped at any moment.

2015 was **** till the finish.
2004 I can't really remember if I'm honest.
2005 is only there for that pass.
2009 will forever be tainted by the cheats.
2003 was great but still not anywhere near as gripping.

2019 was awesome till the 6 again call.

TLDR 2016 was the best.

Highest rating grand final on TV as well.

 

[snowman]

Highest rating grand final on TV as well.

Those poor people. Our game was ****

 

[Wiz]

Those poor people. Our game was ****

Best game ever. I swear the whole stadium felt like it was about to collapse as soon as leutele made that tackle and everyone just went off

 

[snowman]

Everyone went off it was over and we won

The actual game was terrible