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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2999470, member: 1899"] [B]2001 Grand Final Parramatta Eels vs. Newcastle Knights[/B] This was the perfect example of what happens when teams find themselves in uncomfortable positions. Parramatta had been the first team to score in their past 22 games, but within minutes of the biggest game of the season, they found themselves down by 10 points. It wasn't like the Knights had to do anything special to score those points either. Their first try came off a Gidley tackle where it appeared he took Hindmarsh without the ball. Then moments later, Peden dummied his way over the line in an unconving try. To the naked eye, it appeared Kennedy had impeded the defence. Replays proved the opposite, with the Eels defence of Brad Drew, Michael Buettner and Jamie Lyon all getting it horribly wrong. Their second was off a horrible attempt at charge down. Newcastle had their tails up at that point and that extra set of six helped them set up a nice play for Simpson who crashed over on the fringe. It really bent the Eels nose out of shape and the qualities the team was known for like their interchange of passing and support play eluded them. The Eels found themselves in a hole and the Knights were happy to keep them there with some amazing goal-line defence. Steve Simpson's tackle on Andrew Ryan has to go down as one of the best try-savers in grand final history. 9/10 the Eels score and suddenly they're back into the game, the Knights wouldn't let the Eels cross until the 58th minute. The key for this game was the speed around the ruck. The Knights did a fantastic job of utilising their backs around the middle of the pack to give Johns and Kennedy the space to inflict damage. A lot has been made about Joey's completeness as a player, but what I liked about his game was his obsession with targeting that space behind the ruck. What I like about that play is that it forces the defence to come in, creating space out-wide which Johns would invariably capitilise on. He'd play straight, then stand two passes wide and hand the ball to BK or one of his backs, whoever was in position to utilise that space. It was a near immaculate performance from Joey, with the only real blemish being his obsession with the field goal. He made three attempts, including one from dead centre 20 metres out and he missed all of them. By that point, the game was all but over, but he could have made it a sure thing by simply looking for the try. Outside of that, one thing I took out of this rewatch was just how absurd Jamie Lyon's first try was. The Eels attempt a kick into the corner which MacDougall knocks down. MacDougall fails to ground the ball, then Jamie Lyon fails to ground the ball, brushes it with his right arm before eventually grounding it. The video referee eventually gives them a pity try, supposedly on this old interpretation that he didn't 'play at the ball' which was this awful grey area. [USER=8215]@Morkel[/USER] do you know the try I'm talking about? [/QUOTE]

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