Love from ABC - team of the decade (2013) and game of the decade (2010 v Tigpies)

[mattyh]

i cant quote on this for some reason but yea souths may have been second best in regular season but fell over badly in the finals . melbourne werent great that year, manly were deserved grand finalists , pushed us all the way in the first final , beat a tough cronulla , then ran over souths in the second half of their semi. 2013 is actually my fav roosters gf .. 02 we were always going to win ( im a kiwi too ) , 2018 ...was over at half time, no adversity , 2019 well this whole 6 again crap took the shine off ...but 2013 watch it again .. 2 great teams .... manly score first we hit back , then manly control early second half before we roll em ....thriller , none better

[OMR]

In 45 years of watching the roosters I have not seen a better first half of a GF than 2018, it was pure perfection and will always be etched in my memory.

[Mad_Rabid_Rooster]

In 45 years of watching the roosters I have not seen a better first half of a GF than 2018, it was pure perfection and will always be etched in my memory.

Agree. I wasn't around during 1974 and 1975 so, based on what I have seen (2002, 2013, 2018 and 2019, as well as the losses in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2010), it was the best GF performance IMO. It will always be remembered for what Cooper did, and that will go down in history as one of the great individual contributions (in terms of his leadership and direction on the field).

[nayfo]

In my opinion 2018 was our best team, but I'm a little biased.
my son tossed the coin for the GF.
Him and I were the first ones to welcome them off the team bus when they arrived and we got to sit in the players enclosure before the game. Not to mention we got to meet a handful of them before the game.
The entire day will be our favourite game/team of all time.

[Nicola Tesla]

The diff between2018/2019 is the following..
Fergo - Morris... Don't really loose too much here although Fegos 2018 was phenomenal. But having either in the side isn't the difference between a premiership or not.

The Bench of 2018...
Tetavano
Nappa
Liu
Matterson

The Bench 2019
Liu
Butcher
Angus
Verrils

I think I prefer the 2018 bench just... But Tetavano could be in the 2019 side also but for Friends late call up.

So the big diff is the emergence of Verrils and growth of butcher... I think Matterson v Gus is either way really... Although I would love to see Gus play left side more.. when he played there, his footwork and passing game seemed to bring Mitchell into it more than Cords!( Big call I know)

I think the 2019 squad depth was better from players 18-21...Perhaps?
2018 we had Butcher and Collins emerging missing the gf.
2019 we had Verrils, Collins, Sitili, Farmosili emerge or In Collins case, get better.... And Tetavano missing the Gf because of this!!

Imagine how good the 2020 squad would look of Cronk and Latrel were there despite losing ZT!

But with all available, I might give out to 2018 for the bench!

[zac]

Fair comments but I'd go for the 2019 team. Our round robin performance was one more win than the 2018 and one less than the 2013 team - so nothing between them really. I think the 2019 team had to deal with more injuries/suspensions and it has to count for something that it was the first team in a quarter of a century to go back to back.

Hard to compare our 2018 and 2019 GF performances. Along with Newcastle in 2001, the 2018 first half was right up there, but what it took to hang in there and win the 2019 GF, well, that was something special.

[Bruce Pickett]

Keary 18GF > Maloney 13GF > Keary 19GF

[SConcierge]

The 2018/2019 team conceded just 3 tries across the Preliminary Finals and GFs - one of which was an intercept.

So whilst the 2013 team was incredible across the course of the season, with the all time record for keeping a team scoreless, I think the 2018/19 sides were even better in the big games.

Our defence this year in the finals was the best I've ever seen. The Storm and Raiders had no idea how to break us down despite an enormous flow of attacking possession.

I thought the opposition was much stronger in 2013 love to compare the F&A overall for 02 13 18 19

[SConcierge]

Gee blast from the past! Welcome back. Where you been hiding for years SC, missed your food diaries for some time now.

I pretty much only use Twitter these days for my footy goss