Cowboys hoping for less than perfect Storm
SYDNEY: Depending which corner you are in, tomorrow’s NRL grand final is all about Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and redemption and validation for the Melbourne Storm.
Or Michael Morgan, Jason Taumalolo and historydefying premiership glory for the North Queensland Cowboys.
For the neutrals, it is a grand final with everything — except, of course, a Sydney team for only the third time in 110 years, or a New South Wales State of Origin player for the first time in 20 years.
There are subplots and storylines everywhere.
First against eighth for the first time.
The minor premiers against the 1001 prefinals underdogs.
Master mentor Craig Bellamy versus emerging super coach Paul Green.
Morgan versus Cameron Munster for Johnathan Thurston’s vacant Australian No 6 test jumper.
That is if Morgan has not already convinced Mal Meninga with his control of the Cowboys’ charge in the absence of their leader Thurston and fellow injured cocaptain Matt Scott.
After three straight weeks of finals upsets, half of the Cowboys are playing injured, in John Asiata’s case, with a broken hand.
But with Morgan calling the shots and the inspirational Taumalolo tearing opposition packs apart, the Cowboys now threaten to break Storm hearts.
With just four defeats this season, and none in its past nine outings, Melbourne is an over whelming favourite.
Victory would continue what may end up as the most successful individual season for Smith, the newlycrowned Dally M Medallist who seemingly sets records with every game he plays.
If not the greatest individual season, it is certainly the Storm, Queensland and Australian captain’s last alongside Sydneybound Cronk and maybe Slater, too.
It is the end of an era and Smith, Cronk, Slater and Bellamy are desperate to crown the Storm’s decade of dominance with a second title from an extraordinary seven grand finals in 10 years.
While they may say otherwise publicly, rest assured that privately the fiercelycompetitive and proud quartet crave atonement for last year’s painful grand final loss to Cronulla.
History can never remove Melbourne’s 2007 and 2009 grand final triumphs over Manly and Parramatta, but the record books also show Bellamy and Melbourne’s allconquering spine still possess only one premiership ring each, in 2012, from one of rugby league’s true dynasties — due to the club’s salarycap breaches.
Imagine this.
If the Cowboys conjure one last spirited finals upset, a dozen North Queensland players — including unsung heroes such as Kane Linnett, Scott Bolton and Ethan Lowe rather than superstars Slater, Cronk and Smith — will be dual premiership winners.
That would be two titles for the Cowboys in three seasons — and none for the Storm in five.
Such an unpalatable prospect does not bear thinking about for Bellamy and his trio of alltime greats.
Talk about grand final pressure. It is all on one team.
‘‘Do you think it’s on us?’’ Thurston chuckled, after once again cleaning up the North Queensland dressing shed after the Cowboys cleaned up the Sydney Roosters in the preliminary final.
Thurston said such selfless toil was symbolic of the culture cultivated by Green since his arrival at the club in 2014.
Green has not only brought skill and tactical smarts to the Cowboys but also instilled an unshakeable belief among his troops through sheer endeavour and will.
As Morgan said, the Cowboys’ charge to within one win of becoming the first champion from eighth spot has been anything but a cliched fairy tale.
‘‘We’ve worked hard while doing it. It hasn’t just been a big fairy tale when things have just gone our way for no reason,’’ he said.
To stop this onceinageneration Melbourne side, however, the Cowboys will need not just Morgan and Taumalolo, but a less than perfect Storm. — AAP