As Cronulla and Penrith head interstate searching for grand final berths this weekend, Big League marks 20 years since the last time both teams with the week off lost their preliminary finals.
When fourth-placed Wests Tigers broke a stack of finals records with a 50-6 demolition of fifth-placed North Queensland Cowboys in week one of the 2005 NRL playoffs, few envisaged the clubs would face off again in the grand final three weeks later.
But the Graham Murray-coached Cowboys regrouped with a 24-16 semi-final victory over Melbourne Storm, while Tim Sheens’ effervescent Tigers maintained their irresistible roll with a 34-6 rout of Brisbane Broncos.
Minor premiers Parramatta Eels and second-placed premiership favourites St George Illawarra Dragons lay in wait.
Sydney Football Stadium was packed to near-capacity for the Saturday night battle of the joint ventures – and Tigers five-eighth Benji Marshall lifted the roof off the joint after just three minutes.
The mercurial 20-year-old wrong-footed gun centre Mark Gasnier (one of seven Dragons Origin reps to the Tigers’ one) from a scrum win to slice through for the opening try. The Tigers went up 10-0 midway through the first half when another Kiwi, centre-cum-lock Dene Halatau tore through the teeth of the Dragons’ defence from dummy-half.
Rookie winger Wes Naiqama responded for St George Illawarra shortly afterwards with a 60-metre try, but the Tigers landed a crucial blow before halftime as Chris Heighington crashed over from close range.
Dragons skipper Trent Barrett scored under the posts to cut the deficit to four points again but was controversially penalised in possession during the next set. Halatau subsequently crossed for his second try and a 20-12 lead the Tigers would hold until fulltime in a stunning upset.
“I’ve had a ball this season – it’s been amazing,” Halatau said of the Tigers’ rise from obscurity to a premiership decider in their first finals series.
“No one rated us when we kicked off but we had a quiet belief and we kept getting better and better.”
The following day’s result at Stadium Australia was even more of a shock.
An Eels side that had averaged 40 points in their previous six games was spanked 29-0 by a Cowboys outfit that had conceded double figures in every match in 2005.
After a scoreless opening quarter, quicksilver fullback Matt Bowen slashed through untouched for the first try…and the floodgates opened.
Interchange impact player Rod Jensen powered through a sea of blue and gold defenders to score, then halfback Brett Firman – the former Dragons rookie sensation who arrived in Townsville mid-2005 after an ACL setback and an aborted stint with Sydney Roosters – produced a solo four-pointer for an 18-0 halftime lead.
Shellshocked Parramatta never looked like climbing back into the contest. Ty Williams extended North Queensland’s advantage in the 55th minute, before Dally M Medal winner Johnathan Thurston slotted a left-footed field goal and unleashed a show-and-go that was rapidly becoming a trademark to set up Josh Hannay for a try.
“To think where I was three months ago and where I am now, it’s unbelievable,” unlikely hero Firman said post-match.
“I’ve been lucky to come into such a great team with a great coaching staff. They’ve been a massive part of my turnaround.”
A week later the Tigers carved out a 30-16 triumph over a plucky Cowboys side in one of the more entertaining and memorable grand finals of the NRL era – and certainly the unlikeliest in terms of its combatants.
This week’s mouth-watering Suncorp Stadium showdown between the Broncos and Panthers is the first preliminary final to be played on a Sunday since the Cowboys’ shutout of the Eels two decades ago.
