Win one of 10 double passes to the NRL grand final

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For a little inspiration, our league team have come up with their favourite rugby league grand finals. From amazing comebacks to devastating defeats, these are the ones that stick out to us.

1997: Knights defeat Sea Eagles 22-16

The year I truly began to appreciate rugby league as the beautiful, mysterious beast it is, with all this contest entailed putting a neat little bow on the most contentious few years in the game’s history. Andrew Johns playing with a punctured lung. Ray Warren’s call of the last-gasp blindside play for Darren Albert’s match-winner. Adam MacDougall stomping all over Geoff Toovey. Paul Harragon doing Paul Harragon things. And not least, the celebrations that stopped the city of Newcastle in its tracks. Better than Lego.

1980: Canterbury defeat Easts 18-4

Growing up in Queensland, it was a real treat to get the “Sydney league” on TV as the local Brisbane comp was always shown on the ABC. But we’d get the Amco Cup on Channel ‘O’, and premiership matches here and there, and I fell in love with Canterbury-Bankstown because of the way they played. Coached by Teddy Glossop, they were known as ‘The Entertainers’ and they narrowly lost the 1979 grand final to the Dragons. I was 11 at the time. In 1980, they played Easts in the big one. I was beside myself. The match was sealed when Greg Brentnall made a break on the left and, out of options, put up a bomb on the run. Steve Gearin chased it and caught it just short of the tryline and scored. It was the most excited I had ever been. Almost as excited as Glossop was on the sideline.

Canterbury celebrates the 1980 grand final.Credit: Pearce; Alan Gilbert Purcell; Julian Kevin Zakaras/Fairfax Media

1999: Storm defeat Dragons 20-18

It still feels like an impossible dream. Four seasons in, fielding a team of journeymen led by an ageing champion (Glenn Lazarus) and taking on the powers of the newly formed St George-Illawarra Dragons, the Melbourne Storm’s maiden title was a seminal moment. Having lost the qualifying final to the Dragons, the Storm won each of their remaining finals by two points before coming back from 12 points down to win the decider on a penalty try after winger Craig Smith was knocked out flying for a high ball. In the decades since, this title has fallen a little into the background – but for many Victorians, including myself, it showed us everything that is great about rugby league and demonstrated the uniting force that the Storm could be.

2023: Panthers defeat Broncos 26-24

As someone born in 1997, my grand final memories are all from this century. The first I remember is the 2005 decider between Wests Tigers and the Cowboys, but my favourite has to be the 2023 epic between the Panthers and the Broncos. It was the first grand final at which I had worked as a journo at the ground, and it was just as much a rollercoaster ride in the press box as it was from the stands or the couch. Ezra Mam’s hat-trick drove a dagger through the heart of Penrith fans hoping to see the three-peat, before Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary put the team on his back and carried them to an unlikely and incredible victory. Simply ... wow.

Penrith celebrate their 2023 grand final victory.Credit: Getty

1986: Parramatta defeat Bulldogs 4-2

As far as spectacles go, this was an absolute bludger. But when your 10th birthday party coincides with grand final day, your beloved Eels are playing, and the guest list includes an aunty who has flown in from Russia for the first time, there’s only one thing to wish for when you blow out the candles. The full-time siren provided an unbridled moment of joy, one that marriage, children and religion have been unable to reproduce. I have made a career out of rugby league in the hope that, one day, I will witness the likes of it again. The wait continues.

1997: Knights defeat Sea Eagles 22-16

Critics will say it was only half a competition, but for the Newcastle Knights and their fans, the 1997 grand final was a fairytale that ended happily ever after. It wasn’t just the sheer theatre of clinching victory over Manly seconds from full-time after Andrew Johns’s famous pass inside to Darren Albert. It was also the sweetest revenge. Manly had won 11 consecutive games against the Knights leading into the grand final. At the old Sydney Football Stadium, the Knights harnessed their rage to produce one of the great grand final upsets. It was a classic underdog triumph and remains a memory that will forever warm the hearts of the Novocastrian faithful. As Matthew Johns famously declared at the time: “Better than lego.”

Prince Albert: Darren Albert and the Knights celebrate an improbable grand final victory in 1997.Credit: Craig Golding

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*Terms and Conditions: Game of skill. Competition open to residents of NSW who are current subscribers of the Sin Bin newsletter and the Sydney Morning Herald. Entrants under 18 must seek Parent or Legal Guardian consent to enter. Competition closes 25/09/2025 11:59pm AEST. Winners chosen 29/09/2025 at 11:00am AEST at Promoter’s office. Winner notified by phone within 2 days. Full terms and conditions at subscriber.smh.com.au/nrl-terms. Promoter is Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd of 1 Denison Street, North Sydney NSW 2060.

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