Sandon Smith has had to field Nicho Hynes-esque questions about his ability to navigate his side to victory at this time of the year. Neither definitively stuck it to their critics, but the recent signs are positive.

Like Hynes, Smith left it to his No.6 to call the shots and instead focused on what they do well. In Smith’s case it’s his running game, which he employed to great effect with a stunning solo try. Significantly, the halfback has enough quality players around him not to have to do it all himself.

This was a tale of two shoulders. While Cooper Cronk attended a grand final in a dinner suit, Victor Radley – nursing the same injury, a fractured scapula – brought his overalls. There is no hiding in the middle of the field, yet the Sea Eagles couldn’t lay a finger on him when he burst through virtually untouched for the opening try.

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There can’t be enough needles in the world to numb the pain Tom Trbojevic must be feeling. Take a grade three-AC joint injury, add the burden of shouldering his team’s expectations and then the shock of seeing big brother Jake getting knocked out in the opening collision of the match. For Turbo, full-time and a much-needed off-season couldn’t come quickly enough.

The Roosters, meanwhile, don’t want this run to ever end. Radley’s apparent season-ending injury didn’t end his season, Tedesco will give Kalyn Ponga a run for the Kangaroos No.1 jersey and Luke Keary has a proven ability to steer clubs to glory.

This is rugby league’s version of The Last Dance, a chance to do something special before their empire is picked apart. Should it come to pass, after the injuries they have been forced to overcome, it will go down as just as storied a tale.

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