All comeback attempts that get off the ground happen the same way – gradually, then suddenly — but the hardest ones to live with always fall just short.
When that happens, you almost lose the game twice – once when the score mounts against you, then again when the furious efforts to make amends aren’t quite enough.
When there’s just enough to believe again, just enough to renew hope, just enough to start dreaming, that’s the ultimate twist of the knife and that’s what Cronulla copped as they went down 32-28 to the Roosters in the NRLW grand final.
The Sharks fought their way off the canvas just enough to inspire a dream of the greatest comeback in women’s rugby league history, only for the Tricolours to steady when it counted most.
Only a few weeks ago, the Roosters whipped the Sharks 40-0 in their only regular-season meeting, and a similar score looked in the offing early.
Jocelyn Kelleher kicked to Cronulla winger Cassie Staples so often it started to feel personal as the Sharks winger dropped three spiralling bombs in a row.
Rooster tries followed in each of the ensuing sets and by the time Jess Sergis raced away to score right on half-time to complete a five-try, 23-minute blitz that had them leading 24-0 and the trophy engravers had every right to start warming up early.
All the things that served Cronulla so well in their semifinal upset of Brisbane – their physicality, their cohesion in defence, the sharpness of their playmakers – abandoned them, but they returned.
Grand finals are not supposed to be about restoring pride but when Tiana Penitani crossed for Cronulla’s first try that’s all that seemed possible for the Sharks.
But then it kept happening – that’s the gradual part – as the Roosters started to short-circuit.
While the Sharks were clawing their way out of the hell they’d been living in through the first half, with rookie five-eighth Georgia Hannaway and talismanic fullback Emma Tonegato leading the way, the Roosters were flat-out getting the basics right.
Completing a set became a chore, their middle was getting torn to pieces and at one point, poor Brydie Parker got so mixed up she played the ball while facing the sideline.
The sudden part of it came when Ellie Johnston bashed her way over for a try. How she caught the short ball from Quincy Dodd remains a mystery but no comeback is complete without a little bit of magic.
The Sharks were down two with seven minutes left, the wind was at their back, the dream was alive, and they were coming down the hill.
Two moments – one of strength, from Amber Hall, and another of skill, from Olivia Kernick – got the Roosters home.
When Hall gets one-on-one with a defender there is only one way that battle will ever go. The Kiwi backrower is as destructive a runner as there is in women’s rugby league and when she powered over Tayla Preston and into space deep in Cronulla’s half, it was the first sign of life the Roosters had shown in some time.
Her pass to Isabelle Kelly was knocked down and then dead by the Sharks but it gave the Roosters a chance and that’s all they ever need.
Kernick was named Dally M player of the year on Wednesday night and she was a fine choice for it because few players in the league are as well-rounded.
The Roosters hung on despite a furious late comeback from the Sharks. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Kernick had as many try assists this season as Gold Coast’s Lauren Brown, who was named the halfback of the year, while also running for the fourth-most metres in the competition.
She stormed over for the first try of the afternoon with a destructive, straight run but it was her threat as a passer that created the sealer as she sold Hannaway a dummy and strolled through the ensuing gap.
Cronulla had one last punch in them as Penitani got her second to set up a shot at a miracle winner, but their final raid fell short once Annessa Biddle’s desperate offload was intercepted by Tiana Davison.
In the end, it was a grand final of paradoxes. How does a team outscore their opponent 28-8 in a half and lose? How can control of a match flip so completely and utterly? How can a game be dead and alive at the same time?
The Sharks will be asking themselves those questions all summer and perhaps for longer than that. A grand final loss can be a haunting thing and losing can hurt more than winning feels good, especially when it happens like this.
