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  • Time to remember!

    Carney's army makes us stand to attention Jim Morrison
    December 24, 2010
    .
    Hits and memories ... Simon Dwyer flattens Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. Photo: Getty Images

    The Roosters and Tigers had Jim Morrison on the edge of his bar stool in their amazing semi-final.


    They say rugby union is the game they play in heaven. But if the eternal kingdom is all it's cracked up to be, rugby league will be shown on the big screen seven nights a week.

    And if the mail about God being such a great bloke is true, the big man will have a DVD of this year's Wests Tigers-Sydney Roosters semi-final - all 99 glorious minutes of it - on repeat play.

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    Todd Carney and his teammates celebrate their win over the Tigers. Photo: Simon Alekna

    The match was the most astonishing of the 2010 season, elevated to the unforgettable category by dint of a climax so dramatic even Shane Warne's scriptwriter would have rejected it as too far-fetched.

    From the outset, it had all the right ingredients for a rugby league feast: two well-supported Sydney teams peaking at the right stage of the season, featuring the two most exciting players in the comp - Benji Marshall and Todd Carney - going head to head at a full-to-bursting SFS.

    I had gone to the pub that night, to catch up with an old friend. Televised sport can often be a curse in such situations, stifling conversation as attention drifts to the Rushden & Diamonds versus Grimsby Town blockbuster playing out on the box. But this was not one of them. We were glued to the plasma from the get-go.

    The first 40 minutes were played at - to use a standard rugby league simile - Origin-like intensity. Lote Tuqiri barged over for the first try in the 27th minute, Beau Ryan crossed on the other flank with four minutes of the first half remaining, and the Tigers went in 10-2 in front. Eight minutes into the second period, Blake Ayshford bagged the Tigers' third four-pointer, and when a Robbie Farah field goal made it 15-2 with barely 25 minutes left, the Roosters were hanging by a thread.

    Enter Carney. The precocious five-eighth had won the Dally M medal earlier in the week - the latest milestone on the road to redemption for a young man drummed out of the Canberra Raiders and barred from his home town of Goulburn for criminal idiocy.

    But he wasn't about to leave it at that. Carney proceeded to take the game by the scruff of the neck, set up tries for Braith Anasta and Mitchell Pearce and converted them both, hauling the Roosters back to within a point with five minutes to play.

    The atmosphere in the bar was, well, intoxicating. Toothless crones bedecked in tricolours traded insults with burly, beanie-wearing workers in black and orange. Beer flowed like wine. It was just like being at the game, but better. As the replays flashed up, Ray ''Rabbits'' Warren and ''Gus'' Gould agreed on something for the first time since 1981 - the Chooks had more guts than an episode of The Biggest Loser.

    As we moved into the final minute, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves carted the ball up for the Roosters … right smack into the biggest hit of the year. Simon Dwyer's brutal bell-ringer, which dispossessed the Kiwi of the ball, would have uprooted a telegraph pole. It earned the Tigers a priceless scrum feed and left the Roosters medics urgently trying to locate a shovel to scrape Waerea-Hargreaves off the pitch.

    But as the forwards packed down and Farah fed the scrum, something did not seem right. The Tigers appeared disoriented, and a bit of pressure from the Roosters caused the scrum to come apart. Suddenly the ball was sitting up on the turf, there to be won, seemingly without a player within five metres. Chris Heighington stared aghast as Roosters forward Frank-Paul Nuuausala flopped gleefully upon it to complete that rarest of occurrences in the 13-man code, a scrum won against the feed.

    The next thing the Tigers knew, Anthony Minichiello was flicking the ball to Anasta, 30 metres out on the angle. The skipper looked up. dropped it on to his right boot. The buzzer sounded, the ball sailed high between the posts. We were going to golden point …

    The next 19 minutes produced a procession of the worst field-goal attempts of this or any other season. By that point the sides craved the win so badly they would have put up their souls as barter, but it seemed a replay would be the unpalatable outcome.

    However, just as the punters in the pub were turning their thoughts to the next round of drinks, Tigers forward Liam Fulton threw a pass that landed square on the chest of Shaun Kenny-Dowall. All eyes were instantly on the screen as the Roosters flyer pinned back his ears and bolted into the night. About halfway to the try line it became apparent he wasn't going to be stopped.

    If there is anything better than the thrill of such a last-gasp, matchwinning try, it's knowing for at least five seconds beforehand that said try is going to be scored. Kenny-Dowall dived over right beneath a couple of thousand utterly ecstatic Roosters fans. Game over, 19-15.

    What a match. What theatre. What a joy to stand in a pub full of baying fanatics with a mate and a schooner of Coopers green and lose yourself for a few hours on a September Saturday night in Sydney.

  • #2
    I will be getting the font on this article enlarged a tad,then i will either laminate it ,or have it framed,and will then stick it up in the cafe....very nice piece,and it virtually takes you there.
    geez im glad that i got there with mad morley's help, that night.

    Comment


    • #3
      One of the worst things about losing a GF is you tend to forget some of the magic moments we had throughout the year.....the wins again the Bulldogs, Tigers, Rabbits were truly memorable moments. Bring on 2011!!!

      Comment


      • #4
        How good is it when your team won what is being touted as the best game of footy EVER.

        And how shit would it be if your team lost it.

        I reckon Tiger supporters will feel the same as we do every time they show that ****en Gearin try or Sattler tackle.

        Comment


        • #5
          Such an epic game, can't believe it's still being written about three months on.

          Comment


          • #6
            Personally i think it should have been a Roosters V Tigers grandfinal.

            Imagine having a replay of the semi on grand final day !!!

            Delecto Oriens est odio Meridianus
            To love Easts is to hate Souffs

            Originally posted by Bill Shankley, Liverpool FC
            At a football club, there’s a holy trinity – the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don’t come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques.
            Originally posted by Andy Raymond Commentating Souffs V Manly 18/04/09
            The fireworks at the Easter show are making more noise than the crowd tonight

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Lauren View Post
              Such an epic game, can't believe it's still being written about three months on.
              As Scrawny said, it's been proclaimed as the greatest match ever by many people... and we won it

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by supermario View Post
                Personally i think it should have been a Roosters V Tigers grandfinal.

                Imagine having a replay of the semi on grand final day !!!
                mario,it was to have been thus.But as we know we didnt want the fans of st fail and wayne rort disappointed.
                how was that not a penalty against jeremy smith.
                why were st fail allowed to stand off side all game.
                why didnt hayne sin bin some one for the repeated infringements.

                because the nrl didnt want it to be any other way

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Fleabag Fletch View Post
                  One of the worst things about losing a GF is you tend to forget some of the magic moments we had throughout the year.....the wins again the Bulldogs, Tigers, Rabbits were truly memorable moments. Bring on 2011!!!
                  Let us not forget that, had Anasta missed the 1 pointer, this game would have been our last for 2010. We'd all be hoping here that we could improve on 6th in 2011.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Greatest game I have ever been to or witnessed. It would have to be a monumental game to displace that match at the top of my favourites list!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I nearly passed out I was screaming that hard for SKD when he took that intercept. I went for the whip at the halfway line.

                      I've watched this great game 4 times since.

                      Chook.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Chook View Post
                        I nearly passed out I was screaming that hard for SKD when he took that intercept. I went for the whip at the halfway line.

                        I've watched this great game 4 times since.

                        Chook.
                        Only 4, you're not trying hard enough.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Chook View Post
                          I nearly passed out I was screaming that hard for SKD when he took that intercept. I went for the whip at the halfway line.
                          I have a mate(morleythemauler) who would ALWAYS deathride Skids, much like some did on here.

                          I said to MTM that SKD would win us games and would be a star for the Roosters.

                          The first thing i did was run to MTM and said "i Told You SO !!"

                          Delecto Oriens est odio Meridianus
                          To love Easts is to hate Souffs

                          Originally posted by Bill Shankley, Liverpool FC
                          At a football club, there’s a holy trinity – the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don’t come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques.
                          Originally posted by Andy Raymond Commentating Souffs V Manly 18/04/09
                          The fireworks at the Easter show are making more noise than the crowd tonight

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Almost brings tears to the eyes that article

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I have the game on my IQ box and am yet to watch it again. Looking forward to it.

                              Comment

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