00:00:00
Speaker 1: And Daley Cherry Evans, fittingly the last man to touch the ball. Newcastle have fought every inch of the way, but the class of the Roosters has prevailed. Season 2026 done and dusted. Welcome to the Code NRL show. Brent Reid, Michael Karyanis. We've just witnessed the Sydney Roosters claim a premiership. Quite convincing, despite the score I thought pretty. It's remarkable to sit here and go, the Roosters won by one, but... For mine, they were easily the better side.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: They sort of looked to control the whole game, didn't they, Mick?
00:00:33
Speaker 3: Even when the Knights got out to a 12-0 lead, it was against the run of play. And when you look at the stats, I mean, if you look at the stats at the end of this game, you would have thought in the face that the Roosters won by 40 points. That's how dominant they were. But you've got to give Newcastle credit, man. They've done it all year. They just dig in. They find a way.
00:00:49
Speaker 2: They fight. They claw. They scratch for everything. And they did it again tonight, but it just wasn't enough in the end.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: Well, let's start with the Newcastle Knights. They got out to a 12-0 lead.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: It was remarkable because once again, and it was a copy and paste of essentially what happened last week against the Penrith Panthers. Against Penrith, they were camped inside their 20, basically throughout the entire game, but found a way to score some points. This time, they scored the first try, nice work on that left-hand edge.
00:01:13
Speaker 3: Outside the 20-metre line, haven't been down this part of the.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: Ground for quite a while.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Fletcher Sharpe, he goes to Manu Leila!
00:01:22
Speaker 1: Ingo sprinting into the backfield and puts it down under the posts. And then Calum Ponga, it was a huge play because he made a tackle, he helped Dan Gagai tackle Billy Smith on the left hand side of the field, on the right hand side of the field, rushed over to the left hand side on the last play. But the ball raced 95 metres to score. Mark's going to be back in the game here. He's up against Marju. Oh, Ponga! Ponga swoops on the ball. They won't get him. He's passed halfway. He's only got Cherry Evans after him. The Newcastle captain goes 100. 12-0, are you thinking the miracle's on here?
00:01:59
Speaker 2: We're thinking it's on, yeah. It was, Mick.
00:02:01
Speaker 3: And as I said, I mean, they'd done amazingly well to get out to a 12-0 lead. And it just felt like At some point, the damn wall was going to break, wasn't it? I think that try before half-time, you know, that was crucial, obviously.
00:02:14
Speaker 2: Marky Mark.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: Jerry Evans. It's another high one.
00:02:18
Speaker 2: Toya sprinting downfield.
00:02:22
Speaker 1: He takes the catch. He offloads. No one going to ask him to play soccer with him. He's produced another special piece of football.
00:02:31
Speaker 3: As I said, the Knights just, you know, they've just fought and they fought and they fought early in this game. And they managed to get out to a lead which was completely against the run of play. But they'd just been, as I said, they'd just dig in. But that try before half-time where the Roosters got themselves back into the game, that was crucial, I think.
00:02:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was amazing, 12-6 at half-time, when you walked in and you go, the Roosters were the best side at half-time.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Actually, Mick, you know what? Before that try, there was the Caelan Ponga moment.
00:02:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about this.
00:02:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was a huge moment.
00:03:00
Speaker 1: And a cool stadium in Sydney. Here's Radley! Yes! You're sitting there and we heard James Tedesco argue with the referee, Adam G, that, you know, basically all season that's been a sin bin. I ask you this. Yeah. If it's Victor Radley... making that tackle on Kale and Ponga, what happened?
00:03:18
Speaker 2: Look, I mean, obviously he didn't hide. There's no doubt about that. There's a penalty given.
00:03:21
Speaker 3: I actually thought Victor dropped a bit into the tackle. So I understand why they didn't send it for Sinbin. But I can also understand why people thought it should have been a Sinbin.
00:03:30
Speaker 1: It was a Sinbin. It was a Sinbin.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Regular season, it probably is, Mick.
00:03:34
Speaker 1: It's a Sinbin.
00:03:34
Speaker 2: Probably is.
00:03:35
Speaker 1: LaRusso still won, and Adam Jay, I thought, had an outstanding game. I thought he just got this knack to let the game flow.
00:03:40
Speaker 2: He put the whistle away, didn't he?
00:03:42
Speaker 1: And I'm not a big advocate of putting the whistle away if it doesn't need to be put away, right? But the game was open, and we saw the distance between the two sides, and I thought he officially did really, really well. That was a symbol.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: That would have been a bigger moment if they'd lost. If Newcastle won the game, it would have been the.
00:03:57
Speaker 2: Story of the match.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: We'd be talking about it within three seconds.
00:03:59
Speaker 3: Because, I mean, remember it was here, remember it was here when KP got sent off in Origin, right?
00:04:03
Speaker 1: So.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: his memory of this ground isn't great.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: And I reckon when he made that hit, his first instinct would have been, oh, no, this isn't good. Obviously, the referee, Adam Gee, didn't elect him not to send him to the sin bin over that tackle. And it was a huge moment because, you know, less than 10 minutes later, he scores that try.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: Well, the Knights got up the field, get the penalty, score a try. Actually, there was another pivotal play as well where Matt Croker drops the ball and Lindsay Collins is penalised. At 34 years of.
00:04:31
Speaker 2: Age, Tyson Frizzell....
00:04:35
Speaker 1: He's been absolutely smashed here, that broker. He got spun around violently. Well, he got hit by two different angles. I don't know if it was high. Which I don't think was high at all.
00:04:48
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't high.
00:04:49
Speaker 1: Roosters bench blowing up straight away, right? A couple of minutes later, the Knights scored the first try. So, look, in terms of the rub of the green, there's two big moments that probably went Newcastle's way. But the Roosters, even in the second half, we'll stay on the Knights for one more moment, is that You know, it got to 18-12. Another try here and they might be right up against it. An offload as Smith was going to ground. Danger here, two offloads. Cherry Evans, he kicks towards the pass, it bounces back to Desco. Floats it from the one and it'll ask him, they're not going to stop him. He gets another grand final try. 19-12, when it got to 18-12, you're like, this could blow up by 20.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: They could run away with it here, yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: Why do we keep thinking about this Newcastle Knights? We've written them off constantly. We've written them off at the start of the year, throughout the year, but they found a way to score a point and score a try and get in with one point.
00:05:41
Speaker 2: And they made it interesting, right? They turned it into a thrill or a cliffhanger. Halen takes it all on himself once again.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: He off-blows to Manu Loleua.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: Back to Sharpe.
00:05:50
Speaker 3: Now to Bradman.
00:05:55
Speaker 1: And Maggio! He scores the try! With a tick over three to go, Greg Maggio gets his 25th try of the season. And there'll be a kick from the touchline to make it a one-point game.
00:06:05
Speaker 3: Didn't deserve to be a clip, because the Roosters were so dominant. But, you know, I said it earlier, Mick, they just find a way, the Knights, right?
00:06:11
Speaker 1: What about the Roosters? For mine? They were so clinical. They defended their way to victory. And I think there was a real sign of maturity for Sam Walker. And because at times when they've had so much ball, he just, sometimes he can go for the miracle play. Yeah. But this time they kept building pressure. They kept kicking high. The ball kept hitting the deck off their bombs.
00:06:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: Eventually they found a result. So for mine, it was a real mature performance from Sam Walker.
00:06:36
Speaker 3: Yeah. I thought maybe they could have thrown a bit more at him, Mick. I must say, particularly early when they dominated possession, I thought they could have thrown a bit more at him. But, I mean, you know, obviously they did enough, right? And as always, Marky Mark comes up with a moment of magic, right?
00:06:51
Speaker 2: Which Marky, you know, hands up. I said he'd be quickly forgotten, Marky Mark.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: You didn't mean that, though.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't. You didn't mean that. It sort of came out the wrong way, you know?
00:07:00
Speaker 1: You didn't mean it.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: I was more talking about his legacy.
00:07:03
Speaker 3: But I think we saw tonight why Mark's left a bit of an impression, particularly on Roosters fans, with some of the magical plays he comes up with.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: We saw one of them tonight to get them back into this game.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: One thing that was huge was the Roosters bench. They were huge last week.
00:07:18
Speaker 2: Spencer Lenu.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: Spencer Lenu, yeah. Nat Butcher has had an outstanding final series. He's been great. Angus Crichton, basically on one foot playing. And then Spencer Lenu. What about that guy? He was overlooked for selection last week. It was the 18th. Man, they only used 16 players, interestingly, the Roosters tonight. But Spencer Lenu. What about the impact on you?
00:07:35
Speaker 2: His final game for the club. He's going to Parramatta. We've written about that recently.
00:07:39
Speaker 3: Well, Nafai White was so good for my thought early on, Mick.
00:07:41
Speaker 2: I thought he was the best forward in the park.
00:07:43
Speaker 3: He comes off, and then at times they've lost a bit of impact when Nafai White's come off. They didn't lose it today. In fact, Spencer almost took it up a notch. He was that powerful for the Roosters, and you're right. I mean, he came on, came up with some big plays, made a real difference when he came on the field, and it was crucial for them.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: We're wearing full premiership rings as well, the three.
00:08:02
Speaker 2: What about that?
00:08:02
Speaker 1: That he won at Penrith.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: Fair dinkum of Spencer.
00:08:04
Speaker 1: So I'd love to know who was holding them.
00:08:05
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: One of his family members had them in their back pocket. But we have seen the Penrith boys do that in the past. They brought all their premiership rings to their grand final. I love it.
00:08:14
Speaker 2: Do you?
00:08:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. Why not?
00:08:16
Speaker 2: He's been a shaman, Spencer.
00:08:17
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:08:18
Speaker 2: I could have done without it.
00:08:19
Speaker 1: We had to do our 3-2-1s for Code Sport as well. Three points. It was pretty clear cut for mine, this guy.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: How good was he?
00:08:28
Speaker 1: The final thing kicked off in his... illustrious career. He's now a three-time premiership winner. He's now a premiership winning captain.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: You're talking about James Tedesco.
00:08:34
Speaker 1: James Tedesco.
00:08:35
Speaker 2: We should say that.
00:08:35
Speaker 1: Sorry. He's now a premiership winning captain. Clive Churchill medalist. Origin captain. Kangaroos captain. He's done it all. Yeah. What a Hall of Fame career.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: And he ran for over 300 metres, I think, tonight. He was just everywhere for the Roosters. Constantly threatening the defensive line. And look, I mean, there's an Australian side that's going to get named tomorrow, on Monday. You know, Teddy's probably put it, he's definitely put himself in the frame for the Aussie side. He's had a great year, right? And this was the icing on the cake for him. He was enormous tonight for the Roosters, and he's just a phenomenal footballer, Teddy.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: I mean, he's in the pantheon of Roosters greats now. I mean, he's unbelievable.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: He'll go down alongside Brad Fittler as the Roosters' greatest ever signing. You sit here and you look at the impact that Brad Fittler had on the club, one premiership. Brad Fittler, a lot of grand finals, Hall of Famer, outstanding player. James Tedesco, three premierships, captained them, Clive Churchill medalist. I'd say he's challenging Brad Fitland now as the greatest rooster. Potentially the greatest rooster in history, but in terms of roosters recruits, and they've had some good ones.
00:09:37
Speaker 2: He's up there. He doesn't look like slowing down.
00:09:42
Speaker 3: The year he's had tonight, or whatever he is, 33, 34, whatever he is now, I mean, he's finished his year stronger than what he started, which is remarkable, right? So, you know, there's a lot of talk about Herbie Farnworth coming to this club, potentially playing fullback. Mate, You wouldn't be moving on James Tedesco. You'd be encouraging him to keep going around because the way he played in this game, phenomenal. All right.
00:10:03
Speaker 1: My Brad Fittler comparison. Well, now....
00:10:06
Speaker 2: Well, Marky Mark's been another great signing for two years.
00:10:09
Speaker 1: Two years. Cooper Cronk, two years. Sonny Bill. They've had, look, the Riz have had plenty of, a lot of signings, right?
00:10:14
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: No, it's hard to argue.
00:10:17
Speaker 1: Better than Freddie?
00:10:17
Speaker 3: The impact he's had, well, you would say purely in terms of results, premierships. Yeah, he's probably.
00:10:23
Speaker 2: Better than Freddie now.
00:10:24
Speaker 3: You know, I mean, it's been phenomenal what he's done. And he came here, you know, for the West Tigers in a blaze of controversy. Remember, they had those four blokes who were the big four were going to walk out in the club. I think three of them did in the end, right? Mitch Moses, Aaron Woods were the other two. He's been a great signing for this club. He's left an indelible impression on this footy club.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: And he's not done, Mick. He's far from done, Teddy.
00:10:47
Speaker 1: What about Daley Cherry Evans? At times, DCE can be a little bit robotic in interviews. How was he?
00:10:54
Speaker 2: You spoke to him.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: I spoke to him on the field. Tears? Tears in his eyes. Tears in his eyes. Uncontrollable. Thank Manly. He goes, I'm so blessed to have won a premiership at Manly and now to win another premiership at the Sydney Roosters. So respectful. So... What a career. First season, title, that's the way, what, 15 years later, another premiership, and then to kick a field goal. Cherry Evans, here he goes. The master of the field goal. He's knocked another one on the talent. Yeah, the experience of Daley Cherry Evans, that's why he was brought to this club.
00:11:30
Speaker 2: After missing one only, what, three weeks ago?
00:11:31
Speaker 1: And he said that, he goes, I didn't own the moment a couple of weeks ago. And one thing... Lots of things in the living room, right? One of the things is when people say people kick field goals too early. How was that too early? Look, there was no pressure on him. It was a perfect opportunity. Now it's the one-pointer. And how pivotal did it become?
00:11:47
Speaker 3: Well, that's what they bought him for, right? To come up with the big moments at the right time, right? And that's, you know, the Cooper-Cronk comparison was made. The Roosters went and got him, won a couple of premierships with him at halfback. This is what Daly Cherivans was bought for tonight. They bought him for one year to win a comp. And Daly's done it. So, I mean, he's been one of the great footballers. You know, at times he hasn't had the greatest relationship with the media, Daly, me included. But, man, his career, you look at that career, it's an unbelievable career.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: 350-plus games. Crazy career.
00:12:17
Speaker 1: Two premierships. Captain Queensland. Played for Australia.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: He's done it all.
00:12:20
Speaker 1: Really now a four-time premiership winning coach, Trent Robinson. And won one in his first year, much like DCE. And then went back-to-back. Overcame that mountain. The one that was, you know... seemingly impossible to do in modern time in terms of winning back-to-back premierships and then has now come out and won another grand final. So that's four premierships since 2013 for Trent Robinson. Joins the elite of the elite.
00:12:43
Speaker 3: And Mick, there was immense pressure on him this year. I mean, we spoke about they went and got Daly Chervins to win a comp. It had been seven years since his footy team won a comp.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: Reece Robson.
00:12:52
Speaker 3: And their finals record in the seven years since they won a comp coming into this year, it had been horrible. I think they won three of 12 finals or something. So let's make no bones about it. He was under pressure because this is a club that expects to win premierships. And they'd given him all the artillery he needed. You mentioned Reece Robson.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: We said Daly.
00:13:10
Speaker 3: You know, everything was in place to win a comp, to challenge for a premiership. And credit to him.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: He's got them now.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: I wrote a column on the eve of this game about where it placed him now. He's won more comps than Craig Bellamy. In the NRL era, he's won as many comps as anyone. and he's proven himself to be one of the great coaches, Robbo.
00:13:27
Speaker 1: One of the great coaches. He is one of the great coaches, and he's still young enough to coach for another decade easily if he wanted to.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: Well, look at Wayne. If he wants to keep going, he's got 20 years left in him, right?
00:13:36
Speaker 1: He's got three decades left in him if he wants to keep going. But I really love the way the Roosters played this year in terms of, you know, they went through the front door, and they've got these players, and the Fahoo White, Mate, he's so good. You said it on a podcast and you're like, I'm going to make an outlandish comment where he's the best prop in the game. And it wasn't outlandish because I sort of backed you in, right? I think he's had a better season than Payne Haas. I'd still have Payne Haas as number one, right? But Nafahu White is number two in closing.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: Outstanding player. Fekete. So let's see Fekete. So good. And then see what... Like these... freaks of players that have just grown a leg this year, and they've done it differently. The Roosters side that won the comps in 13, 18, 19 had these really hard-edged, experienced, gritty players, your Boyd Corners, your Drake Franz, your Mitch Orbisons, and then sprinkling with lots of talent, right? They've got these young guys on the rise now, the Sydney Roosters, and they can, you know, you touched on Newcastle Knights starting next year's Premiership for Elvis. I know they lose Mark no longer in Tawase. Killer blow. DCE was invaluable for him this year. We think Spencer Lenu will be at Parramatta next year as well. So they do lose some players. Ruben Garrett comes in, obviously nowhere near the Marky Mark level. But James Tedesco, Reece Robson, Sam Walker. Hugo Savala.
00:14:59
Speaker 2: We shouldn't sell short a couple of their older blokes too, Mick.
00:15:02
Speaker 3: I mean, Victor Radley, I thought, in the latter half of the year was unbelievable.
00:15:05
Speaker 1: His prelim was ridiculous.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: He's played so well.
00:15:08
Speaker 3: And, mate, Lindsay Collins has been so good as well on the front row.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: Some of their old blokes have... We mentioned Teddy. He's one of their old blokes as well.
00:15:17
Speaker 3: The old blokes have stood up as well. I mean, his young guy's been great. Fekete's been a beast in the latter half of the year, right? And Mark's been ridiculous. I mean, Rob Toyer. has gone to another level since origin so they've just got a real balance at the moment the old blokes are aiming up the young blokes just get better and better every week and okay maybe I might have gone a bit fast on a night she'll start next year as premiership favourites I've been known to make an outlandish statement in recent weeks but you know I think the Roos will be there again I mean again they've got Trent Robinson there as well and you know all the pieces are in place for them to go back to back but As I said, I think the Knights are going to be very good next year.
00:15:55
Speaker 1: You know who we missed? Who? Daniel Tupou. You know what Daniel Tupou is? What? A four-time premiership winner.
00:16:01
Speaker 2: Unbelievable.
00:16:01
Speaker 1: So he sits there with four premierships.
00:16:03
Speaker 2: Crazy.
00:16:03
Speaker 1: Like Spencer. He wasn't showing them off, though. But he's got his four rings, Daniel Tupou, just ever reliable and hasn't done a new deal for next year. But we're of the belief that he'll stay for another 12 months.
00:16:14
Speaker 2: He'll be back again.
00:16:14
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, obviously with Mark leaving, there's room for him to stay now and And they'll want to keep him around because he's been so good for them. He's still so effective for them. He's such a target on the wing. We're seeing Walker's kicking game. Daily going, they've got Hugo Savala to come in and play six. Yeah, it's what they do, right?
00:16:34
Speaker 2: They just lose a bloke and replace a bloke. Just plug them in, Mick. Just keep plugging them in.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: Keep plugging them in. That's what we'll do when you're gone. Just finally, we had our column lead for Coach Sports and Daily Telegraph around. the Roosters players sprinkling some sand onto the Sydney Olympic Park surface just behind us. Can you talk us through exactly what they did in the captain's run on Saturday?
00:16:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really nice touch, Mick.
00:16:59
Speaker 3: They collected some sand from Bondo Beach in jars this week. It was given to the players before the captain's run. The captain, they were told, the players were told, go and find a piece of this ground where you want to put some sand, where you want to leave a mark ahead.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: Of this game.
00:17:15
Speaker 3: And obviously, you know, Mark, for example, Mark Nwonginitawasi put it in the corners.
00:17:19
Speaker 1: He probably should have thrown it in the air.
00:17:21
Speaker 3: Daly sprinkled some, Daly Chervin sprinkled some in the halfway line. So I guess it was a way of those players visualising where they would make an impact tomorrow and also putting a piece of Bondi out of course. We all know the season... The year that they've had the Sydney Roosters, obviously the Bondo Massacre really affected that footy.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: Club and those players.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: So it was a nice touch by the Roosters, you know, given the stage and what they've been through this year and what that community has been through this year.
Speaker 1: And Daley Cherry Evans, fittingly the last man to touch the ball. Newcastle have fought every inch of the way, but the class of the Roosters has prevailed. Season 2026 done and dusted. Welcome to the Code NRL show. Brent Reid, Michael Karyanis. We've just witnessed the Sydney Roosters claim a premiership. Quite convincing, despite the score I thought pretty. It's remarkable to sit here and go, the Roosters won by one, but... For mine, they were easily the better side.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: They sort of looked to control the whole game, didn't they, Mick?
00:00:33
Speaker 3: Even when the Knights got out to a 12-0 lead, it was against the run of play. And when you look at the stats, I mean, if you look at the stats at the end of this game, you would have thought in the face that the Roosters won by 40 points. That's how dominant they were. But you've got to give Newcastle credit, man. They've done it all year. They just dig in. They find a way.
00:00:49
Speaker 2: They fight. They claw. They scratch for everything. And they did it again tonight, but it just wasn't enough in the end.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: Well, let's start with the Newcastle Knights. They got out to a 12-0 lead.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: It was remarkable because once again, and it was a copy and paste of essentially what happened last week against the Penrith Panthers. Against Penrith, they were camped inside their 20, basically throughout the entire game, but found a way to score some points. This time, they scored the first try, nice work on that left-hand edge.
00:01:13
Speaker 3: Outside the 20-metre line, haven't been down this part of the.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: Ground for quite a while.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Fletcher Sharpe, he goes to Manu Leila!
00:01:22
Speaker 1: Ingo sprinting into the backfield and puts it down under the posts. And then Calum Ponga, it was a huge play because he made a tackle, he helped Dan Gagai tackle Billy Smith on the left hand side of the field, on the right hand side of the field, rushed over to the left hand side on the last play. But the ball raced 95 metres to score. Mark's going to be back in the game here. He's up against Marju. Oh, Ponga! Ponga swoops on the ball. They won't get him. He's passed halfway. He's only got Cherry Evans after him. The Newcastle captain goes 100. 12-0, are you thinking the miracle's on here?
00:01:59
Speaker 2: We're thinking it's on, yeah. It was, Mick.
00:02:01
Speaker 3: And as I said, I mean, they'd done amazingly well to get out to a 12-0 lead. And it just felt like At some point, the damn wall was going to break, wasn't it? I think that try before half-time, you know, that was crucial, obviously.
00:02:14
Speaker 2: Marky Mark.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: Jerry Evans. It's another high one.
00:02:18
Speaker 2: Toya sprinting downfield.
00:02:22
Speaker 1: He takes the catch. He offloads. No one going to ask him to play soccer with him. He's produced another special piece of football.
00:02:31
Speaker 3: As I said, the Knights just, you know, they've just fought and they fought and they fought early in this game. And they managed to get out to a lead which was completely against the run of play. But they'd just been, as I said, they'd just dig in. But that try before half-time where the Roosters got themselves back into the game, that was crucial, I think.
00:02:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was amazing, 12-6 at half-time, when you walked in and you go, the Roosters were the best side at half-time.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Actually, Mick, you know what? Before that try, there was the Caelan Ponga moment.
00:02:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about this.
00:02:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was a huge moment.
00:03:00
Speaker 1: And a cool stadium in Sydney. Here's Radley! Yes! You're sitting there and we heard James Tedesco argue with the referee, Adam G, that, you know, basically all season that's been a sin bin. I ask you this. Yeah. If it's Victor Radley... making that tackle on Kale and Ponga, what happened?
00:03:18
Speaker 2: Look, I mean, obviously he didn't hide. There's no doubt about that. There's a penalty given.
00:03:21
Speaker 3: I actually thought Victor dropped a bit into the tackle. So I understand why they didn't send it for Sinbin. But I can also understand why people thought it should have been a Sinbin.
00:03:30
Speaker 1: It was a Sinbin. It was a Sinbin.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Regular season, it probably is, Mick.
00:03:34
Speaker 1: It's a Sinbin.
00:03:34
Speaker 2: Probably is.
00:03:35
Speaker 1: LaRusso still won, and Adam Jay, I thought, had an outstanding game. I thought he just got this knack to let the game flow.
00:03:40
Speaker 2: He put the whistle away, didn't he?
00:03:42
Speaker 1: And I'm not a big advocate of putting the whistle away if it doesn't need to be put away, right? But the game was open, and we saw the distance between the two sides, and I thought he officially did really, really well. That was a symbol.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: That would have been a bigger moment if they'd lost. If Newcastle won the game, it would have been the.
00:03:57
Speaker 2: Story of the match.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: We'd be talking about it within three seconds.
00:03:59
Speaker 3: Because, I mean, remember it was here, remember it was here when KP got sent off in Origin, right?
00:04:03
Speaker 1: So.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: his memory of this ground isn't great.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: And I reckon when he made that hit, his first instinct would have been, oh, no, this isn't good. Obviously, the referee, Adam Gee, didn't elect him not to send him to the sin bin over that tackle. And it was a huge moment because, you know, less than 10 minutes later, he scores that try.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: Well, the Knights got up the field, get the penalty, score a try. Actually, there was another pivotal play as well where Matt Croker drops the ball and Lindsay Collins is penalised. At 34 years of.
00:04:31
Speaker 2: Age, Tyson Frizzell....
00:04:35
Speaker 1: He's been absolutely smashed here, that broker. He got spun around violently. Well, he got hit by two different angles. I don't know if it was high. Which I don't think was high at all.
00:04:48
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't high.
00:04:49
Speaker 1: Roosters bench blowing up straight away, right? A couple of minutes later, the Knights scored the first try. So, look, in terms of the rub of the green, there's two big moments that probably went Newcastle's way. But the Roosters, even in the second half, we'll stay on the Knights for one more moment, is that You know, it got to 18-12. Another try here and they might be right up against it. An offload as Smith was going to ground. Danger here, two offloads. Cherry Evans, he kicks towards the pass, it bounces back to Desco. Floats it from the one and it'll ask him, they're not going to stop him. He gets another grand final try. 19-12, when it got to 18-12, you're like, this could blow up by 20.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: They could run away with it here, yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: Why do we keep thinking about this Newcastle Knights? We've written them off constantly. We've written them off at the start of the year, throughout the year, but they found a way to score a point and score a try and get in with one point.
00:05:41
Speaker 2: And they made it interesting, right? They turned it into a thrill or a cliffhanger. Halen takes it all on himself once again.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: He off-blows to Manu Loleua.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: Back to Sharpe.
00:05:50
Speaker 3: Now to Bradman.
00:05:55
Speaker 1: And Maggio! He scores the try! With a tick over three to go, Greg Maggio gets his 25th try of the season. And there'll be a kick from the touchline to make it a one-point game.
00:06:05
Speaker 3: Didn't deserve to be a clip, because the Roosters were so dominant. But, you know, I said it earlier, Mick, they just find a way, the Knights, right?
00:06:11
Speaker 1: What about the Roosters? For mine? They were so clinical. They defended their way to victory. And I think there was a real sign of maturity for Sam Walker. And because at times when they've had so much ball, he just, sometimes he can go for the miracle play. Yeah. But this time they kept building pressure. They kept kicking high. The ball kept hitting the deck off their bombs.
00:06:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: Eventually they found a result. So for mine, it was a real mature performance from Sam Walker.
00:06:36
Speaker 3: Yeah. I thought maybe they could have thrown a bit more at him, Mick. I must say, particularly early when they dominated possession, I thought they could have thrown a bit more at him. But, I mean, you know, obviously they did enough, right? And as always, Marky Mark comes up with a moment of magic, right?
00:06:51
Speaker 2: Which Marky, you know, hands up. I said he'd be quickly forgotten, Marky Mark.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: You didn't mean that, though.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't. You didn't mean that. It sort of came out the wrong way, you know?
00:07:00
Speaker 1: You didn't mean it.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: I was more talking about his legacy.
00:07:03
Speaker 3: But I think we saw tonight why Mark's left a bit of an impression, particularly on Roosters fans, with some of the magical plays he comes up with.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: We saw one of them tonight to get them back into this game.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: One thing that was huge was the Roosters bench. They were huge last week.
00:07:18
Speaker 2: Spencer Lenu.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: Spencer Lenu, yeah. Nat Butcher has had an outstanding final series. He's been great. Angus Crichton, basically on one foot playing. And then Spencer Lenu. What about that guy? He was overlooked for selection last week. It was the 18th. Man, they only used 16 players, interestingly, the Roosters tonight. But Spencer Lenu. What about the impact on you?
00:07:35
Speaker 2: His final game for the club. He's going to Parramatta. We've written about that recently.
00:07:39
Speaker 3: Well, Nafai White was so good for my thought early on, Mick.
00:07:41
Speaker 2: I thought he was the best forward in the park.
00:07:43
Speaker 3: He comes off, and then at times they've lost a bit of impact when Nafai White's come off. They didn't lose it today. In fact, Spencer almost took it up a notch. He was that powerful for the Roosters, and you're right. I mean, he came on, came up with some big plays, made a real difference when he came on the field, and it was crucial for them.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: We're wearing full premiership rings as well, the three.
00:08:02
Speaker 2: What about that?
00:08:02
Speaker 1: That he won at Penrith.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: Fair dinkum of Spencer.
00:08:04
Speaker 1: So I'd love to know who was holding them.
00:08:05
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: One of his family members had them in their back pocket. But we have seen the Penrith boys do that in the past. They brought all their premiership rings to their grand final. I love it.
00:08:14
Speaker 2: Do you?
00:08:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. Why not?
00:08:16
Speaker 2: He's been a shaman, Spencer.
00:08:17
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:08:18
Speaker 2: I could have done without it.
00:08:19
Speaker 1: We had to do our 3-2-1s for Code Sport as well. Three points. It was pretty clear cut for mine, this guy.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: How good was he?
00:08:28
Speaker 1: The final thing kicked off in his... illustrious career. He's now a three-time premiership winner. He's now a premiership winning captain.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: You're talking about James Tedesco.
00:08:34
Speaker 1: James Tedesco.
00:08:35
Speaker 2: We should say that.
00:08:35
Speaker 1: Sorry. He's now a premiership winning captain. Clive Churchill medalist. Origin captain. Kangaroos captain. He's done it all. Yeah. What a Hall of Fame career.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: And he ran for over 300 metres, I think, tonight. He was just everywhere for the Roosters. Constantly threatening the defensive line. And look, I mean, there's an Australian side that's going to get named tomorrow, on Monday. You know, Teddy's probably put it, he's definitely put himself in the frame for the Aussie side. He's had a great year, right? And this was the icing on the cake for him. He was enormous tonight for the Roosters, and he's just a phenomenal footballer, Teddy.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: I mean, he's in the pantheon of Roosters greats now. I mean, he's unbelievable.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: He'll go down alongside Brad Fittler as the Roosters' greatest ever signing. You sit here and you look at the impact that Brad Fittler had on the club, one premiership. Brad Fittler, a lot of grand finals, Hall of Famer, outstanding player. James Tedesco, three premierships, captained them, Clive Churchill medalist. I'd say he's challenging Brad Fitland now as the greatest rooster. Potentially the greatest rooster in history, but in terms of roosters recruits, and they've had some good ones.
00:09:37
Speaker 2: He's up there. He doesn't look like slowing down.
00:09:42
Speaker 3: The year he's had tonight, or whatever he is, 33, 34, whatever he is now, I mean, he's finished his year stronger than what he started, which is remarkable, right? So, you know, there's a lot of talk about Herbie Farnworth coming to this club, potentially playing fullback. Mate, You wouldn't be moving on James Tedesco. You'd be encouraging him to keep going around because the way he played in this game, phenomenal. All right.
00:10:03
Speaker 1: My Brad Fittler comparison. Well, now....
00:10:06
Speaker 2: Well, Marky Mark's been another great signing for two years.
00:10:09
Speaker 1: Two years. Cooper Cronk, two years. Sonny Bill. They've had, look, the Riz have had plenty of, a lot of signings, right?
00:10:14
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: No, it's hard to argue.
00:10:17
Speaker 1: Better than Freddie?
00:10:17
Speaker 3: The impact he's had, well, you would say purely in terms of results, premierships. Yeah, he's probably.
00:10:23
Speaker 2: Better than Freddie now.
00:10:24
Speaker 3: You know, I mean, it's been phenomenal what he's done. And he came here, you know, for the West Tigers in a blaze of controversy. Remember, they had those four blokes who were the big four were going to walk out in the club. I think three of them did in the end, right? Mitch Moses, Aaron Woods were the other two. He's been a great signing for this club. He's left an indelible impression on this footy club.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: And he's not done, Mick. He's far from done, Teddy.
00:10:47
Speaker 1: What about Daley Cherry Evans? At times, DCE can be a little bit robotic in interviews. How was he?
00:10:54
Speaker 2: You spoke to him.
00:10:54
Speaker 1: I spoke to him on the field. Tears? Tears in his eyes. Tears in his eyes. Uncontrollable. Thank Manly. He goes, I'm so blessed to have won a premiership at Manly and now to win another premiership at the Sydney Roosters. So respectful. So... What a career. First season, title, that's the way, what, 15 years later, another premiership, and then to kick a field goal. Cherry Evans, here he goes. The master of the field goal. He's knocked another one on the talent. Yeah, the experience of Daley Cherry Evans, that's why he was brought to this club.
00:11:30
Speaker 2: After missing one only, what, three weeks ago?
00:11:31
Speaker 1: And he said that, he goes, I didn't own the moment a couple of weeks ago. And one thing... Lots of things in the living room, right? One of the things is when people say people kick field goals too early. How was that too early? Look, there was no pressure on him. It was a perfect opportunity. Now it's the one-pointer. And how pivotal did it become?
00:11:47
Speaker 3: Well, that's what they bought him for, right? To come up with the big moments at the right time, right? And that's, you know, the Cooper-Cronk comparison was made. The Roosters went and got him, won a couple of premierships with him at halfback. This is what Daly Cherivans was bought for tonight. They bought him for one year to win a comp. And Daly's done it. So, I mean, he's been one of the great footballers. You know, at times he hasn't had the greatest relationship with the media, Daly, me included. But, man, his career, you look at that career, it's an unbelievable career.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: 350-plus games. Crazy career.
00:12:17
Speaker 1: Two premierships. Captain Queensland. Played for Australia.
00:12:19
Speaker 2: He's done it all.
00:12:20
Speaker 1: Really now a four-time premiership winning coach, Trent Robinson. And won one in his first year, much like DCE. And then went back-to-back. Overcame that mountain. The one that was, you know... seemingly impossible to do in modern time in terms of winning back-to-back premierships and then has now come out and won another grand final. So that's four premierships since 2013 for Trent Robinson. Joins the elite of the elite.
00:12:43
Speaker 3: And Mick, there was immense pressure on him this year. I mean, we spoke about they went and got Daly Chervins to win a comp. It had been seven years since his footy team won a comp.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: Reece Robson.
00:12:52
Speaker 3: And their finals record in the seven years since they won a comp coming into this year, it had been horrible. I think they won three of 12 finals or something. So let's make no bones about it. He was under pressure because this is a club that expects to win premierships. And they'd given him all the artillery he needed. You mentioned Reece Robson.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: We said Daly.
00:13:10
Speaker 3: You know, everything was in place to win a comp, to challenge for a premiership. And credit to him.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: He's got them now.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: I wrote a column on the eve of this game about where it placed him now. He's won more comps than Craig Bellamy. In the NRL era, he's won as many comps as anyone. and he's proven himself to be one of the great coaches, Robbo.
00:13:27
Speaker 1: One of the great coaches. He is one of the great coaches, and he's still young enough to coach for another decade easily if he wanted to.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: Well, look at Wayne. If he wants to keep going, he's got 20 years left in him, right?
00:13:36
Speaker 1: He's got three decades left in him if he wants to keep going. But I really love the way the Roosters played this year in terms of, you know, they went through the front door, and they've got these players, and the Fahoo White, Mate, he's so good. You said it on a podcast and you're like, I'm going to make an outlandish comment where he's the best prop in the game. And it wasn't outlandish because I sort of backed you in, right? I think he's had a better season than Payne Haas. I'd still have Payne Haas as number one, right? But Nafahu White is number two in closing.
00:14:03
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: Outstanding player. Fekete. So let's see Fekete. So good. And then see what... Like these... freaks of players that have just grown a leg this year, and they've done it differently. The Roosters side that won the comps in 13, 18, 19 had these really hard-edged, experienced, gritty players, your Boyd Corners, your Drake Franz, your Mitch Orbisons, and then sprinkling with lots of talent, right? They've got these young guys on the rise now, the Sydney Roosters, and they can, you know, you touched on Newcastle Knights starting next year's Premiership for Elvis. I know they lose Mark no longer in Tawase. Killer blow. DCE was invaluable for him this year. We think Spencer Lenu will be at Parramatta next year as well. So they do lose some players. Ruben Garrett comes in, obviously nowhere near the Marky Mark level. But James Tedesco, Reece Robson, Sam Walker. Hugo Savala.
00:14:59
Speaker 2: We shouldn't sell short a couple of their older blokes too, Mick.
00:15:02
Speaker 3: I mean, Victor Radley, I thought, in the latter half of the year was unbelievable.
00:15:05
Speaker 1: His prelim was ridiculous.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: He's played so well.
00:15:08
Speaker 3: And, mate, Lindsay Collins has been so good as well on the front row.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: Some of their old blokes have... We mentioned Teddy. He's one of their old blokes as well.
00:15:17
Speaker 3: The old blokes have stood up as well. I mean, his young guy's been great. Fekete's been a beast in the latter half of the year, right? And Mark's been ridiculous. I mean, Rob Toyer. has gone to another level since origin so they've just got a real balance at the moment the old blokes are aiming up the young blokes just get better and better every week and okay maybe I might have gone a bit fast on a night she'll start next year as premiership favourites I've been known to make an outlandish statement in recent weeks but you know I think the Roos will be there again I mean again they've got Trent Robinson there as well and you know all the pieces are in place for them to go back to back but As I said, I think the Knights are going to be very good next year.
00:15:55
Speaker 1: You know who we missed? Who? Daniel Tupou. You know what Daniel Tupou is? What? A four-time premiership winner.
00:16:01
Speaker 2: Unbelievable.
00:16:01
Speaker 1: So he sits there with four premierships.
00:16:03
Speaker 2: Crazy.
00:16:03
Speaker 1: Like Spencer. He wasn't showing them off, though. But he's got his four rings, Daniel Tupou, just ever reliable and hasn't done a new deal for next year. But we're of the belief that he'll stay for another 12 months.
00:16:14
Speaker 2: He'll be back again.
00:16:14
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, obviously with Mark leaving, there's room for him to stay now and And they'll want to keep him around because he's been so good for them. He's still so effective for them. He's such a target on the wing. We're seeing Walker's kicking game. Daily going, they've got Hugo Savala to come in and play six. Yeah, it's what they do, right?
00:16:34
Speaker 2: They just lose a bloke and replace a bloke. Just plug them in, Mick. Just keep plugging them in.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: Keep plugging them in. That's what we'll do when you're gone. Just finally, we had our column lead for Coach Sports and Daily Telegraph around. the Roosters players sprinkling some sand onto the Sydney Olympic Park surface just behind us. Can you talk us through exactly what they did in the captain's run on Saturday?
00:16:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really nice touch, Mick.
00:16:59
Speaker 3: They collected some sand from Bondo Beach in jars this week. It was given to the players before the captain's run. The captain, they were told, the players were told, go and find a piece of this ground where you want to put some sand, where you want to leave a mark ahead.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: Of this game.
00:17:15
Speaker 3: And obviously, you know, Mark, for example, Mark Nwonginitawasi put it in the corners.
00:17:19
Speaker 1: He probably should have thrown it in the air.
00:17:21
Speaker 3: Daly sprinkled some, Daly Chervin sprinkled some in the halfway line. So I guess it was a way of those players visualising where they would make an impact tomorrow and also putting a piece of Bondi out of course. We all know the season... The year that they've had the Sydney Roosters, obviously the Bondo Massacre really affected that footy.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: Club and those players.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: So it was a nice touch by the Roosters, you know, given the stage and what they've been through this year and what that community has been through this year.
