The moments that really matter: how the 2015 Grand Final was decided before the last-second try

It’s just an amazing, amazing fight! The crowd can’t believe it! Two o’clock storm, just as the full-time siren is about to sound! Broncos have been razed to the ground all over the park.

And therein lies the mistake.”

Replays showed Sims being tackled from the side by Israel Folau, causing him to bend slightly and the ball impacting Sika Manu’s hip and falling out. The cameras and commentators are searching for Sims just as they will search for Ben Hunt seven years later. He is shown sitting with his head bowed, his fingers pressing hard on his forehead.

“Ashton Sims is discouraged!”

But in the end, it’s the end that counts. A fortnight later in the game that really mattered – the Grand Final – Melbourne would be thrashed 40–0 by Manly.

Paul “Fatty” Vautin during presentations after Manly’s 1996 grand final win said: “And every one of those guys standing there will go to their graves a happy man, they played in a premiership-winning team.. .They will all be friends, no matter what happens for the rest of their lives”.

The appeal of GF is undeniable as it reduces the test of who is the best to an 80-minute competition. In the great ones it may come down to the last second.

When Ray Warren was asked “Can you pick one moment from your entire commentary career that stands out to you?”, Ray Warren replied: “That 2015 Grand Final. The last three minutes.”

When the final siren sounded in that game between Brisbane and North Queensland, the Broncos were leading 16–12. Records show they lost 17–16.

What happened in the final moments that caused them to lose the premiership?

After consecutive penalties in the 43rd minute the Broncos, just meters from the Cowboys line, decided to kick a penalty goal for a 16–12 lead.

Should they have started a new set for a potential try and a 20-12 lead?

In the 77th minute, Anthony Milford made a steal and another attacking play from the Broncos forward ended with Andrew McCullough kicking in through deep contact.

There are still a few minutes left before Hunt’s devastating ball drops during the golden point but he makes two crucial mistakes just before that which may have already cost the team the Premiership.

Cowboys coach Paul Green is sprayed with champagne by his players after winning the 2015 NRL title. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The Cowboys spread the ball with assured scrums. Just as Frazier found Ali with his brutal left hook, Hunt nailed Ken Linnett with right contact – a tackle he had made three minutes earlier – except this time the powerful combination of Hunt’s small stature and powerful base. The lanky and tall Linnet impacts Lifting’s hips and nearly sends him headfirst to the ground, drawing a penalty.

It’s indicative of the Broncos’ tireless defensive effort in the second half, but it proves to be too spirited at crucial times in the game. And Hunt knows this because he has been seen making obscene remarks towards himself.

With less than two minutes remaining, the Broncos stopped another Cowboys raid on their own line. They play slowly, a dangerous move because the Cowboys still have time to attack if the Broncos fail to gain meters. Despite hit-ups by Sam Thaiday and Corey Parker they were only able to reach the Cowboys’ 20-metre line.

But, as he has done all match, Milford stepped up with a big left on Jake Granville, another left, a right and an acceleration past James Tamou and Ethan Lowe.

Now stop it there. 78:48 into the fourth tackle and Milford are in clear position. Of course it’s over now. A tackle and kick coming. North Queensland not scoring a goal deep in their own half with less than a minute remaining.

As soon as he crosses 30, he slows down, looking for an offload. McCullough, initially on his inside but unmarked by Justin O’Neill and now has no options for Milford.

On the halfway line he comes across Kyle Feldt, looks like he is going to surrender the tackle, but too close to the tackler, attempts a late right foot step and Feldt’s desperate tackle catches Milford. Becomes loose and the ball falls back.

Hunt retrieves it but finds Feldt also in front of him. He slips on the ground. Watching now, it’s hard to know whether he’s attempting to surrender into the tackle, avoid being pushed into touch, or attempt to run back towards the middle. Anyway, the ball is unprotected in one hand and is dropped and recovered by Feldt’s repeated attempt.

Kyle Feldt. remember the name.

The final set begins with exactly one minute remaining. At no point do you seriously believe they can accomplish it. Johnathan Thurston’s first pass is high and fumbled but miraculously recovered by Linnett, a pass and an offload go to the ground but suddenly bounce. On the fourth, Thurston simply hands it off to Matt Scott for the go ahead.

Then this is the last one. Thurston received a tired pass from Granville – it was not his first – which could have easily been dropped.

He tries to move downwards but turns back towards the middle. Broncos forward Adam Blair, as he has done successfully throughout the contest, again ferociously tries to stop him but this time he oversteps and with a wink and a shrug, Thurston loses him.

Should Blair have tempered it a bit to slow the game down to ensure proper contact that could possibly have sealed the game? Perhaps.

As Thurston continues threatening with his dummy and darts, Blair desperately gets back to his feet and lines up on the blind side… on the wrong side.

Johnathan Thurston. (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

We all know that fate has led us here. As early as the fifth minute on Fox League commentary, Warren Smith declared: “A warning shot across the Broncos’ bow as to what they can expect on that right side when Thurston links up with (Michael) Morgan”.

Finally, there is no power forward inside Thurston. McCullough comes straight at him, but is pushed aside and can only watch sadly as the helmeted maestro, beaten late by a heroic Parker, sends Morgan on a diagonal run that draws several defenders. Is.

One of them is Milford, who, like Blair, has implemented Wayne Bennett’s defensive strategies to perfection by successfully shutting down many of Morgan’s right side raids and attempted offloads, as well as producing one-on-one strips .

This time he is partially obstructed by other tackler Jack Reid and finds himself slightly behind Morgan, who is severely braced on the left shoulder and arm, as the North Queensland five-eighth passes Feldt to the try line. Have given a great pass while putting it on, because the siren is going on; Thinned and distorted by screams of joy, despair and disbelief.

Broncos fullback Darius Boyd, unable to reach Feldt, goes to the ground and slaps the turf, assuming, like most, that Thurston will end it with his trademark conversion.

Now on her back, her legs are entangled in the wires of the television cameraman moving in to film the ceremonies. A photographer, who was standing next to Boyd and looking for joyful footage, suddenly looks down and sees him running around and chooses to record his desolation and humiliation instead.

The missed conversion gives this great game more prestige, but the dominant image is of poor Ben Hunt crouched and on his feet after missing the golden point kickoff. He knows it’s all over and he has cost his team the premiership.

As the other Cowboys players celebrate the error, Tamou, in a touching gesture, bends down to offer him some solace.

Of course, if the Broncos had won it in golden points it would have been Thurston’s missed kick that defined the legacy of the game. Instead he won the Clive Churchill Medal (it could be argued that Milford was the better player) not only through a drop goal which is relatively easy, but because he keeps the ball alive during the last play and – thanks to his tenacity. Willpower, through a little luck, amazing timing, and some kind of talent – ​​wins.

But Thurston still watches his missed conversion again – the distinctive flat powerful curling kick to collect the bar straight and rebounding wide – with breathless agony, as if he is still unaware of what is about to happen.

Hearing that the finale was Ray Warren’s greatest moment made him clearly emotional.

What a game.

This match – considered by many to be the greatest match of all time – will always be a ghost haunting Thurston and his premiership teammates and Ben Hunt and his Broncos.