Why this GF made absolutely no sense... and stunning Ponga act no one should forget — Crawls

This is certainly not a crack at the Sydney Roosters, or the fact James Tedesco walked away with the Clive Churchill Medal.

As Phil Gould summed up perfectly on Sunday night, this was the most dominant one-point victory we have ever seen.

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And absolutely nothing can or should take away from the fact that history will record Trent Robinson’s star-studded team as the 2026 NRL premiers.

Tedesco was also more than worthy to be judged best on ground as the skipper of the winning team, given he finished with 28 runs for a phenomenal 330m that included 10 tackle busts.

Although without Mark Nawaqanitawase freakish skills, the Roosters don’t win regardless.

That said, what most fans were talking about for good reason in the immediate aftermath of Sunday night’s game is how incredibly brave the Newcastle Knights were in defeat.

And more particular, how Kalyn Ponga could not have done more to try and get his team home with some wonderfully heroic efforts with and without the ball.

MORE FROM THE GRAND FINAL

TALKING POINTS: Rooster’s brutal GF statement as club switch looms; ‘astonishing’ reality of Knights act

ROOSTERS RATINGS: Recruit to go down in NRL folklore; star who swung epic GF

KNIGHTS RATINGS: All-time ‘one-man freak show’; Origin star goes missing

Ponga lights up GF with full field try | 00:36

That included Ponga’s 95m solo try when he literally came from assisting with a tackle on one side of the field to seize on a loose ball and run the length of the field to score.

Then right down to the final frantic minutes Ponga just never stopped attacking the game to try and find a way to come up with the miracle win.

Let’s not forget the Knights were without their entire starting front row of Jacob Saifiti, Phoenix Crossland and Trey Mooney, and were missing injured marquee halfback Dylan Brown.

While in comparison the Roosters’ only absentee was interchange utility Connor Watson due to concussion protocols.

Yet even at almost full strength, the most stacked roster in the comp — with 12 full-fledged representative stars — struggled to put the Knights away.

Until the final seconds when Teddy still found the energy to come up with two more effort plays under enormous pressure that put the game to bed.

It’s just extraordinary the only difference on the scoreboard in the end was a Daly Cherry-Evans one-point field goal, with the teams finishing with three tries apiece.

It made absolutely no sense when you look at the overall stats.

Again, in no way is this intended to be a slight on the Roosters’ performance, or Teddy’s effort.

I just hope history doesn’t forget how inspirational Ponga was despite the result.

That surely deserves to be rated up with the greatest individual grand final performances we have seen from the losing captain.

Both captains for that matter.

Holbrook: 'Fight to get back here!' | 11:57

BREAKING DOWN STATS OF MOST DOMINANT ONE-POINT WIN IN HISTORY

Without question the story of the night was the breakdown of the overall stats that highlighted Newcastle’s courage against the odds.

Let’s look at the numbers to put it all in perspective.

The Roosters had a 57/43 per cent split of possession and dominated field position 84 per cent to 16 per cent.

The Knights finished up making 100 more tackles (291 to 391).

The Roosters ran for 1804m to 1181m.

They had a phenomenal 55 to 6 tackles inside their opposition 20m red zone and 113 tackles to 21 inside the opposition half.

The Roosters dominated post contact metres to the tune of 673m to 273m.

The Roosters even won the penalty count 4-2.

They put up an unbelievable 19 bombs to 2.

Tedesco 'speechless' after Grand Final | 00:28

About the only stat the Knights did win was the linebreaks 2 to 1.

I still can’t get my head around the fact the Roosters’ only linebreak in the entire game was when Billy Smith crossed in the 48th minute.

Yet when Greg Marzhew scored with just three minutes to go - and Sandon Smith nailed that sideline conversion - the Knights were miraculously still in the contest.

Again, how it finished 3 tries apiece with the Roosters getting home by a DCE one-pointer is an absolute miracle.

Yet it is also the reality.

The numbers tell you the Knights had no right to even be in the contest.

And while both teams should hold their heads high, I have never seen a gutsier performance from the losing team in the grand final than what we all witnessed on Sunday night.

Inside the Roosters sheds after GF win! | 12:03

MARKY MARK’S FLASHBACK TO HAYNE PLANE

There is not another player in the game capable of scoring the two tries Mark Nawaqanitawase finished with.

You just don’t get lucky as often as Marky Mark does without not just incredible skills and athleticism, but also his uncanny ability to sum up a situation in a split-second and seize on it.

His performances throughout this entire finals series reminded me so much of Jarryd Hayne’s phenomenal run in 2009.

Although Nawaqanitwase got to finish with the fairytale.

While Hayne’s Parramatta side was ultimately dudded by a Melbourne Storm roster that was later stripped of its title for salary cap cheating.

Throw in Nawaqanitawase’s overall work rate to finish with 24 runs for 212m and you could seriously make a case this bloke should be up with the top paid players in the game if he ever returns given how he can influence the result.

Marky flies over for the Roosters! | 00:32

ROOSTERS ENFORCER MAKES A STATEMENT

Forward leader Naufahu Whyte was equally outstanding through the middle to finish with 16 runs for 169m.

Spencer Leniu was also tremendous off the bench to change the momentum through his powerful charges and some bone jarring defence.

ROOSTERS HALVES LUCKY TO ESCAPE MORE SCRUTINY

It’s a good thing Cherry-Evans landed the field goal when he did.

If the Roosters didn’t get the win with all that field position and possession, the Roosters halves would have been scrutinised far more heavily for failing to capitalise on their overall dominance.

By rights the Roosters should have won that game by at least 20 points.

There is no question the Knights’ rushing defence had them rattled badly in the first half, and Sam Walker was well short of his best.

If not for Marky Mark’s two freakish tries, it would have been a very different postmortem.

Ponga placed on report | 00:27

HOW WAS THAT NOT A SIN BIN?

How Ponga was not sent to the sin bin for his high tackle on Victor Radley in the first half was a dead-set joke.

That tackle has been a sin bin all season.

You can’t just change the rules because it is the grand final.

But the match officials chose to turn a blind eye to it.

It just confirms the long held belief that grand finals and Origin games aren’t refereed differently.

CAPTAIN’S CHALLENGE GOES MIA

One of the other things that should not be overlooked is how there was not a single captain’s challenge in the entire match.

It was a refreshing change to see the game flow as well as it did after all the bunker dramas over the course of the finals series.