Rugby league in September rarely fails to deliver. It certainly did not on the opening weekend of the 2023 NRL finals series in what was one of the most brutal, dramatic, exhilarating and anxiety-driven weekends in recent memory. Two of the greatest finals of the NRL era were matched with an injury that utterly devastated the game, a stunning biting allegation and moments of reckoning that will take some intestinal fortitude to overcome.
With the NRL set to showcase itself to the world in Las Vegas next year, it will unlikely ever get another weekend that demonstrates all that is great, soul-affirming and soul-destroying about rugby league than it did over the last few days. While both the elimination finals were two very different matches stylistically, the common thread was the naked desperation that shows only in do-or-die football. In the furnace, the true nature of football teams is laid bare.
For the Sydney Roosters, it was the making of a star. Sam Walker, dropped earlier in the season with his future at the Tricolours the subject of much speculation, stepped up to deliver the Roosters a win as famous as any under Trent Robinson. Beset by losing two star outside backs in Joseph Manu and Joseph Suaalii and with veteran playmakers James Tedesco and Luke Keary playing well below par, Walker stood tall to give the Roosters a victory they had no right to even consider given how dominant Cronulla were for most of the match. Walker showed maturity beyond his years not only in slotting the winning field goal but in leading his team to an unlikely win.
The defeat will take a long time for Cronulla to recover from. Nicho Hynes, who played superbly, entered the contest with question marks over his ability to drive the Sharks forwards on the biggest of stages. His individual showing will not be enough to prevent the reckoning that is hitting the Sharks fast after two shocking September slideouts in consecutive years. Coach Craig Fitzgibbon looked in a daze afterwards as he battled to grasp the stunning defeat, throwing wildly to try to understand.
And for the Newcastle Knights, hosting their first finals match in 17 years and riding a nine-game win streak, it was a victory that will sit behind only Darren Albert’s try that delivered the club their first title in 1997 for dramatic, important wins. It was also one that was well and truly pulled from the fire. At periods, Newcastle looked the silky side that had put together such a long winning streak. And at times, they looked to be on the verge of becoming one of the favourites in finals history to go down, struggling to meet the intensity the Raiders brought. Only a late penalty in the second period of extra-time saved the Knights after two late Canberra tries sent the match beyond 80 minutes.
Now, it is time to count the cost for winners and losers. While the Raiders season is over and Jack Wighton has played his last game for the Green Machine, the club’s legal team is likely to be busy as he will probably need to defend a biting allegation. While victims are often reticent to make an official complaint of biting on the field, Knights five-eighth Tyson Gamble was adamant he had been bitten by Wighton with clear marks on Gamble’s forearm and vision of Wighton’s mouth open on Gamble’s arm. Ashley Klein’s failure to dismiss Wighton stunned many and the Souths-bound centre could face a lengthy stint on the sideline if found guilty.
The Roosters are sweating badly on the health of not only Manu and Suaalii but also Billy Smith, who returned to the game and kicked a key conversion but looked far from 100% in the dying stages of the game. The club, who were already without Daniel Tupou, showed outstanding valiance in overcoming the losses but can not afford to miss both against the Melbourne Storm with their season once again on the line. Suaalii is expected to be fine but Manu, who picked up a recurrence of his troublesome hamstring injury, looks doubtful.
One player who will not be there when the Storm and Roosters square off on Friday will be Ryan Papenhuyzen, who sustained a compound fracture of his ankle in just his third-game back from a 13-month layoff. There are few more electric – and arguably no more popular – players in the NRL than Papenhuyzen and his injury was a devastating blow to one of the game’s truly wonderful ambassadors. While he faces another long road to recovery, the initial prognosis after the surgery is that he could be ready to play in round one next season.
Finals football is very much about courage, finding a way. We saw that on the weekend. And those clubs that have survived to fight again are going to have to plumb their courage and resilience and desperation if they are to find their way to preliminary final weekend.
