Melbourne Storm wins 2017 NRL Grand Final

It might not have been the most exhilarating grand final in recent memory, but rugby league fans still witnessed history on Sunday night. A sharp analyst, Brett also played 10 State of Origin games for New South Wales and 22 Tests for Australia.

Cooper Cronk plays his seventh decider, while Billy Slater and Cameron Smith will both play their sixth.

“We have so much respect for the Cowboys as a football team”.

The chances of the Storm following the Sharks, the Eels and the Roosters down the same plug hole appear remote at best. The Storm should dominate the game and nobody would be surprised if they won, but it is not a foregone conclusion.

On paper Melbourne have the better big men, led by names like Jesse Bromwich and Tohu Harris, but the reality is that the Cowboys have the edge on the Storm’s forwards.

Or I am dealing with a gloating one, along with many workmates who suddenly support the Cowboys.

“I didn’t really know [whether I’d be back here]”, Slater said after the win, breaking into tears.

No single player at the Storm needs to lift but they’ll have to fix the lacklustre starts to matches that have plagued them over the last few weeks. And Smith? He could play until he is 40 and be the first player to register 400-plus games. They are premiership-winning figures, however while the Cowboys have been exemplary in this area, their finals opponents have been guilty of high error rates.

We just tried to limit his impact on the game, to limit what he is capable of doing and make him uncomfortable. He’ll want them to build pressure through a pin-point accurate kicking game.

They would keep fighting, of course, such is the narrative of the Cowboys.

For when will another NRL side be graced with a Three as Big as this?

To have three blokes born within 100 kilometres of each other, two of them within an hour of one another. If we think it’s just going to happen for us next year we won’t get another opportunity like we did tonight.

Morgan possesses something that even the all-conquering Melbourne defence might not have an answer for, and boasts at least one try assist in his last seven games.

Melbourne will also target the Cowboys’ front row pair of John Asiata and Scott Bolton.

“I thought the ref knocked him over and I reckon [Martin] would have made the tackle on Addo-Carr”, Green said. But Cameron Smith, in a display of the rugby league genius that has had commentators and fans salivating for so many years, came up with the mastermind notion of passing the ball from dummy half to a very large man running very fast just a very short distance from the try line.

Here are the ratings for the NRL grand final.

“The Queensland fire in their belly will win it for them this weekend”.

This was always going to be Melbourne’s grand final to lose.

The Melbourne Storm destroyed Brisbane in a totally one-sided contest on Saturday to progress to a second consecutive NRL Grand Final.