As it happened: the NRL Grand Final

Rob says:

04:05pm | 04/10/09

pre match entertainment is, well. not that good.

mike says:

04:36pm | 04/10/09

Jarrod - what a tosser - taking two red left shoes to the game lol - good to see footy players living up to their boof head image!!

NotAParraSupporter says:

06:12pm | 04/10/09

Disgraceful act, Slater dropping to ball to get a penalty Shame on you! What a low act!!

Steve H says:

06:37pm | 04/10/09

NotAParraSupporter says:
Proven once and for all Slater is a far superior fullback than Hayne

Sheena says:

06:38pm | 04/10/09

Very disappointing that in Melbourne Channel Nine chose to end the telecast as soon as the game was over. No celebration, no trophy presentation.

Karl says:

07:07pm | 04/10/09

Disgraceful.  That is the first grand final that I have seen decided by a referee.  So many officials and they couldn’t penalise for offside, forward passes, foul play (fingers in the face, wrist locks).  The refs were more than capable of picking up knock on’s when it was Parra but unable to penalise Melbourne in any way throughout the game.
I will not watch another game of league.
Bring on the Rugby!

sue says:

07:23pm | 04/10/09

There was one area in which Channel Nine’s coverage excelled - tackiness. The cross to Darryl Somers at half time was television at its worst - dated, sexist, flat, unfunny and crass. Hasnt television moved on since the 70s?

alto says:

08:08pm | 04/10/09

Karl - one eyed sore loser comments, mate. The referereeing was good and the eels cannot claim ‘we wuz robbed’. Storm were clearly the superior side and the score flattered the eels.

Anthony says:

08:43pm | 04/10/09

I agree with Karl.  The ref(s) made a few dodgy decisions and let a few go as well, but he saved his worst decision for last.  That was a game killer.

Big Amonzo says:

08:58pm | 04/10/09

@Karl - Last time I checked, Melbourne won by 7 points, not 1.

Steve says:

09:07pm | 04/10/09

Karl - You obviously didn’t watch any of the Tri-nations games where players were penalised for silly infringments in the scrum which looked like next to nothing. Don’t blame the rest, just because you get close-ups in high def now doesn’t give you the right to criticise such a very hard job. They can only see so much. Congrats to Melbourne, the game was over by the time Slater got the last penalty.

iansand says:

09:08pm | 04/10/09

Paul Colgan - Where does “occasionally” come from?  Fantasyland?

The best team won.  Footie was the winner on the day.  And anyone who wants to watch the post-match grunting must come from Melbourne, where such noises are regarded as important..

The G Fella says:

09:09pm | 04/10/09

Paul Colgan….yes, every sport has an element of play decided by a referee; however I agree wholeheartedly with Karl. It has been said by many League experts, that some of these pathetic decisions Referees are making, is going to deny teams the right to premierships. Today’s Grand Final was a classic example of stupidity and misappropriation of the game of Rugby League. You don’t have to be a Parramatta supporter (and I am not) to know that Tony Archer solidified his position as “King of the World” when it comes to pathetic refereeing and as far as I am concerned, he should be banned from his position for the majority of season 2010. Rugby League will loose more than Karl as a fan, should there be any further doubt or inconsistent views of the stripping rule and other grey areas of the game. I have been a huge fan of this code since a young age, but I am slowly losing my patience and see little hope for any future boost in teams fan bases, should the codes decision makers allow this chaos to continue. For Parra fans….you had that bunch of boring, one dimensional fools on the back foot and dare I say that if “The King” did not blow a gasket, you would have evened the game in the next play and put those poor souls to bed in extra time. Booooo to you King!!!

Destry says:

09:46pm | 04/10/09

Hope all you “Hayne train” commentators like your Eel stuffed. Do you want fries with that?

Sally says:

11:47pm | 04/10/09

@Karl - can you tell me how many times did Nathan Hindmarsh get away with high shots? I counted at least 4.

Besides, Parramatta had 5 penalties, Melbourne just 3.

That’s fact - NOT opinion.

Alison says:

08:39am | 05/10/09

WORST COVERAGE EVER OF A GRANF FINAL!!!!

Channel 9’s coverage of the Rugby league grand final was disgraceful and frustrating to watch.

The lead in to the game was full of ads when we should have got a good build up to the game like in Origin.

The half time cross to Daryl Sommers was pathetic. What on earth has he got to do with Rugby League. Should have seen our panel of experts analyse the first half.

And to top it off, Channel 9 cutting to ad everytime there was a try ruined the experience of watching the game.

NRL needs to take the TV rights from Channel 9 and give it to a network who will appreciate it.

Jack says:

08:54am | 05/10/09

to those who have been winging about Slater’s “dropped ball” penalty - have a look at the replay….the ball is knocked out of his hand by the knee of a parra defender running back from an offside position - so I agree Fui Fui should not have a penalty against him in the stats, but a penalty was definitely required as far as the game is considered - infringing the play the ball.

Camo says:

10:44am | 05/10/09

Channel 9 hit a new low with it’s disgustingly biased commentary - in particular that boof-head Phil Gould… who believes certain indiscretions should be allowed because “it’s a grand final”.
I’m an impartial Souths’ supporter, and even I picked up on the pro-eels diatribe coming from the commentary box. Ruined the telecast.

Damo says:

12:14pm | 06/10/09

Not a regular Rugby watcher, but i do enjoy the big games such as tthe final & State of Origin, it was disappointing that C9 did not show the celebrations, the other disappointing thing about the game was the biased commentating, i can understand that parramatta has not won a flag in so long but it seems like the commentators do not like Melbourne at all, both sides had some great players but some not got any kudos. Go Cats

Zac says:

03:51pm | 08/10/09

@Karl…obviously massively one-eyed. Parramatta got a penalty 5 minutes earlier for a Billy Slater drop that went backwards. How does that work??? And the penalty against MoiMoi shouldn’t have been against him, it should have been against the Parra player that clearly knee’d the ball out of Slater’s hands as he’s trying to play the ball. Suck up the loss mate, just weren’t good this year. Interesting that not one commentator on Channel 9 mentioned the fact Slater’s “penalty” actually went backwards. Couldn’t believe how bias that commentory was. Inglis was taken out after he kicked the ball by a head-high tackle, a play where he most likely would have got a try…how the ref’s missed that is anybody’s guess, then Phil “NFI” Gould states “Great umpiring. He can’t just kick & chase whenever he feels like it” and other comments like “you have to let those rules go in a Grand Final” - no wonder League is going down to codes like AFL and Soccer…

rob says:

09:30pm | 20/10/09

replay proves ball was knocked out of slaters hand replay does not lie ingles coat hangerd on try line that was not payed even if slater was penilised the best parra could have done was put game in to extra time parra got two penalties that they should not got storm should have won by more…parra finish 8th get all home games in sydney so dont dare say storm wernt deseved champs hail the mighty storm..and watch the slowmow replay and you see ref made right call!!!