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Message: [QUOTE="Broncoman, post: 2628490, member: 7803"] [B]1999 Grand Final, Melbourne Storm V St George Illawarra, 26th September 1999 [/B]I know I've already reviewed this game but it's on the classic grand finals dvd I've been watching so I deleted the other review and decided to do another one on the same game. The Melbourne Storm shocked the league world by completing a remarkable rise to the top of the Rugby League mountain by winning their first premiership with a comeback against the highly fancied St-George Illawarra Dragons in front of a world record crowd of 107,999. Coming into the game on the back of the form of Anthony Mundine and defeating the Storm earlier in the finals at Olympic Park and running over the favourites Cronulla in the preliminary final the Dragons dominated the first half scoring 2 tries through some skill by Mundine who's perfectly timed grubber kick sent Fitzgibbon over and Blacklock's phenomenal pickup from a Kimmorley kick that saw him race 60 meters untouched. The Dragons were dominating the game but were helped tremendously by a poor first half from the Storm which saw them at the wrong end of all the statistics; Possession; St George Illawarra 58, Storm: 42; Storm completions 13/20; Storm tackles 166, Dragons tackles 121. On the back of an upbeat pep talk at halftime Melbourne lifted their intensity in the second half and posted points early as Craig Smith landed a simple goal of a penalty for a high tackle on Kimmorley. In the 50th minute Mundine grubbed on the last and regained the ball a few meters in front with 2 men unmarked but bombed the try as he decided to go himself and lost the ball in Smith's tackle. It was the turning point as the Storm got themselves in attacking position from it and capitalised as Martin planted the ball down after taking a short pass from Geyer. Lazarus dropped the ball at the first tackle after the restart gifting the Dragons a chance which they took as Paul McGregor scored after a kick from Mundine went backwards of Wishart. Bartrim missed the conversion leaving the score at 18-6. Continiung the trend the Storm struck back as Kimmorley sent Roarty over to score and after 2 goals from Smith the Storm were only 4 points and behind and pressed for victory in the last quarter. What followed would be an unforgettable finish to a remarkable and historical grand final that won't be forgotten. With 5 minutes to go on the last tackle 10 meters from the Dragon's line Kimmorley kicked to the wing where Smith was unmarked, Smith took the kick and looked certain to score until his opposite Ainscough felled him with a high tackle knocking him out. Referee Bill Harrigan and video ref Chris Ward deliberated on what the decision would be. They ruled that Smith was certain to score and most definitely would have if Smith didn't drop the ball in Ainscough's tackle. In a courageous decision they awarded the penalty try in front of the posts and Matt Geyer slotted the ball over the posts winning the Storm it's first premiership, sending hero Glen Lazarus out a winner and breaking the hearts of Dragons fans everywhere. [B]Notes - [/B]Glenn Lazarus became the first man to win 3 premierships with 3 different clubs after successful stints with Canberra and Brisbane. This was his 6th Grand Final and 5th premiership - The Dragons players that played that day must still be kicking themselves at how they lost this game. They had it in the bag but blew it based on Mundine's greediness and their own mistakes - Despite bombing a try Mundine actually played quite well as he had a hand in 2 tries and was always eager to take the line on and looked dangerous. He could've been anything in the game if wasn't a wuss who played the victim when he didn't get his own way. - Full credit to the Storm as a whole on how they managed to set up a successful Rugby League club in foreign land and win a premiership so early in their existence. - Rod Wishart and Brad Mackay retired after this game and Mark Coyne was also retiring but he didn't play - Brett Kimmorley was the CCM winner [B]Melbourne Storm 20: [/B]Tries by Tony Martin and Ben Roarty and a penalty try, 3 goals by Craig Smith and a goal by Matt Geyer [B]St George Illawarra 18: [/B]Tries by Craig Fitzgibbon, Nathan Blacklock and Paul McGregor, 2 goals by Craig Fitzgibbon [B]Melbourne Storm [/B]1: Robbie Ross 2: Craig Smith 3: Aaron Moule 4: Tony Martin 5: Marcus Bai 6: Matt Geyer 7: Brett Kimmorley 8: Glenn Lazarus (Captain) 9: Richard Swain 10: Rodney Howe 11: Paul Marquet 12: Stephen Kearney 13: Tawera Nikau 14: Matt Rua 15: David Williams 16: Russel Bawden 17: Ben Roarty Coach: Chris Anderson [B]St George Illawarra Dragons [/B]1: Luke Patten 2: Nathan Blacklock 3: Paul McGregor (Captain) 4: Shaun Timmins 5: Jamie Ainscough 6: Anthony Mundine 7: Trent Barratt 8: Chris Leikvoll 9: Nathan Brown 10: Craig Smith 11: Darren Treacy 12: Lance Thompson 13: Wayne Bartrim 14: Craig Fitzgibben 15: Colin Ward 16: Brad Mackay 17: Rod Wishart Coaches: David Waite and Andrew Farrar [/QUOTE]

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