Another week, another epic fightback: Walsh-inspired Broncos break 19-year title drought

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Before 7.30pm on Sunday night, this narrative could have been shaped any which way, snacking on statistics and recent history to support an educated guess at the outcome. Recent finals data supports a Brisbane comeback from at least a 14-point deficit, but the numbers say Storm do not leave themselves open to capitulation in the way Penrith and Canberra did the past two weeks.

The numbers say Brisbane cannot be down 22-12 at half-time and turn that into 22-26 at the full-time whistle.

But no statistic can quantify the sight of Reece Walsh tackling Tui Kamikamica out of a probable match-winning try. And Walsh chasing down Ryan Papenhuyzen out of another match-winning try. And Walsh tackling at the death to hold on to the slimmest of leads in a grand final that had everything and more.

Such axis-tilting flashpoints are measured only in the sound of Walsh exclaiming “Oh my god. What a bloody ride”, in the way beers flew and people sprinted on the Accor Stadium pitch, and in the possible tears of Bellamy’s granddaughter. And if Billie is heartbroken enough to cry for a second time in as many years, that is not a good day for a doting grandfather who flirts with finishing his extraordinary tenure almost every off-season.

Reece Walsh and coach Michael Maguire celebrate on Sunday night.

Bellamy the stalwart, who has just contested 11 grand final as coach, taking him past Wayne Bennett for the most in history. Bellamy, who outlasted five Broncos coaches only to find himself face to face with the most esteemed graduate from the School of Bellamy. Michael Maguire has already achieved the unthinkable by rejuvenating a chronically underachieving group of stars and galvanising them to a premiership in his first year.

A first premiership since 2006 – when Maguire was still working for Bellamy at Melbourne. The greatness of such an achievement will be expressed ad nauseam over the coming days, but for now, this was a decider to rival every other before it. Two years ago, the Broncos let go of a hefty lead against the Panthers to lose at this venue; this time they did the comeback thing they’ve been doing all season.

Mind you, they did play from the front – in the opening two minutes at least. Haas won a penalty off his first carry and the Broncos flew forward from there. The cutout ball came from an under-pressure Reece Walsh, leaving Deine Mariner to race over … and then flirt heavily with the dead-ball line in his hunt to enable an easier conversion. On try up already.

Brisbane’s Deine Mariner flirts with the dead-ball line before scoring the opening try.

Melbourne didn’t even touch the ball until five minutes had gone, but perhaps if you score twice in the subsequent 10 that’s acceptable. But it was more than Nick Meaney sashaying through for the first and Jahrome Hughes grubbering delicately so Eli Katoa could snatch the second (Will Warbrick bagged the Storm a third on 21 minutes). It was collective speed and grunt and enough set restarts for Brisbane to tire on their line in a manner that would not have delighted the fitness master living inside Maguire’s head.

Equally, he might not have been thrilled with Walsh’s high tackle on a falling Xavier Coates that got him on report. What he does understand, however, is that with Walsh he must accept the bad with the good – and the good was about to come. And Maguire did roar and pump his fist when his celebrity of a fullback did a celebrity thing to score a celebrity try.

Kobe Hetherington broke for the run and quick play-the-ball, and Walsh left a snail trail of destruction through Trent Loiero, Shawn Blore and Papenhuyzen and over for one of the all-time grand final tries. Except that this was a very fast snail. He had to be to take something from Storm’s first-half performance, with its pace and expansive intensity outstanding even for them. As if to prove it, Hughes took Brisbane’s fightback to a four-point deficit and lengthened it again to go to the sheds at 22-12 – the highest-scoring first half in grand final history.

What the hell could possibly happen in the second? As it turned out, more madness. Adam Reynolds was chaired off the field with a calf injury that ended his night. Ben Hunt was knocked out cold. Ezra Mam threw himself into every body in his path. Papenhuyzen was taken out by Brendan Piakura. The score hovered at 26-22 to Brisbane for an age, as Mariner and Kotoni Staggs hauled Coates into touch.

But all of this drama would not have been possible had it not been for what occurred three minutes into the second half. A Reynolds error gifted field position for Kamikamica to think he’d scored in the corner, but had actually dropped it under pressure from Walsh, some 20kg lighter that his opponent and a fair sight shorter than his opponent. From that moment on, Walsh was omnipresent and effectively unplayable.