Melbourne’s `big three’ finally have an NRL premiership to keep after combining to erase some of the pain of their stripped titles with a 14-4 grand final win over Canterbury.
The trauma of the salary cap breaches, which resulted in the Storm’s 2007 and 2009 titles being taken away, was pushed aside before 82,976 predominantly Bulldogs fans at ANZ Stadium on Sunday night as Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater came to the fore.
Along with Ryan Hoffman, all three were part of both stripped premierships and, while they repeatedly denied vengeance formed part of their motivation, the euphoria of winning told a different story.
“I’ve been asked a few times whether this one, if we won, whether it would be sweeter than the others – I guess there’s a small spot that says yes,” skipper Smith said.
“Winning a grand final, that’s what you aim for.
“Your congratulations have got to go to the club and the coaching staff.
“We were gutted a few years ago with our players (leaving), morale wasn’t at the highest that it’s ever been, but we built the club back up.
“Last year we nearly got there and this year we did and we made it count.”
For the minor premier Bulldogs it was a disappointing finish to what had been a remarkable year under new coach Des Hasler, who fell one win short of becoming the first man to win back-to-back titles with different clubs.
“It’s been such an enjoyable year and to go out like that, it’s just devastating,” Bulldogs skipper Michael Ennis said.
“Take the emotion out of it, I’m so proud of our boys, they should really hold their heads up high.
“They’ve really turned the corner at this club and we’re going to be around for a few more years yet.”
So too are the Storm, based on Sunday night’s performance, with the big three showing no signs of slowing.
Again they came up with the big plays when it mattered – Cronk deservedly awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for a commanding performance that included assists for two of the Storm’s three tries – including one for Slater just before halftime.
But it was at the defensive end that Slater and Smith really excelled, both coming up with try-saving tackles to deny Josh Morris and Ennis, respectively, as the Storm clung to their ten-point lead in the second half.
They also overcame a drama-charged incident just after the Bulldogs’ only points of the night when Bulldogs prop James Graham was placed on report for an alleged biting incident that evoked memories of Mike Tyson’s famous ear chomp on Evander Holyfield.
Slater was involved in some push and shove with David Stagg as the Bulldogs took exception to his late tackle on Perrett after the four-pointer and Graham ran a distance to get involved in the stoush.
The video replays didn’t look good for Graham and referee Tony Archer said to his fellow officials “can you see the blood on his ear?” as Slater made his complaint official.
The incident didn’t deter Slater as he scored soon after off a Cronk pass to make it 10-4 for the Storm, before the halfback was again the provider with a kick for Justin O’Neill to score right on halftime for what proved to be the final points of the match.
