‘Kicking stones’: How one play saved NRL star
LIAM Martin was getting ready to cop it from his Panthers teammates after a couple of bombed tries, but he went from zero to hero in the blink of an eye to seal the minor premiership for Penrith with a late try against Souths after a major medical recovery.
The edge forward failed to ground a grubber in the first half and then spilt his lollies over the line, and it looked like he and Rabbitohs winger Jaxson Paulo were having their own private battle to see who could botch the most tries.
There was something poetic about the final few minutes as
Paulo unfortunately dropped a kick that gifted Penrith the field position for Martin to make amends with a crash play close to the line off some Api Koroisau wizardry around the ruck.
I was so glad to get over the line,” Martin said in the sheds after the 26-22 win at Accor Stadium.
“I obviously bombed the first two and was kicking stones for 75 minutes of the game going ‘geez I’ve cost the boys the win’, so to get the last one made it feel a lot better.
“They were butcher jobs. When I scored the third one, all the boys were like ‘oh my god, we were going to spray you after the game’.”
It’s the first time Martin has scored a matchwinner in the NRL, and he put the errors down to a new pair of white boots that might not be in the kit bag next week.
“I think that’s just the kind of player Marto is,” said Stephen Crichton, who praised his Blues teammate for not giving up after a tough start to the game.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. He’s the definition of that and that’s what he did tonight.”
That Martin was even on the field makes him a medical marvel given he was on crutches seven days earlier after he twisted his ankle against the Storm.