The 2015 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the
2015 NRL season and was played on Sunday 4 October at Sydney's
ANZ Stadium between the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
and
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
.
North Queensland won the match 17–16 in
golden point
The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn matches in a number of sports. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal.
Rugby league Australia
The golden point is used to determine a winner (where a ...
extra time, claiming their first
premiership title in their twentieth year of competition. Due to its dramatic ending, the match has been regarded as one of the greatest grand finals in rugby league history, drawing comparisons with the
1989 NSWRL Grand Final and the
1997 ARL Grand Final. Cowboys co-captain
Johnathan Thurston, who kicked the winning field goal for his team, was awarded the
Clive Churchill Medal as the best player on the ground. Pre-match entertainment was headlined by Australian rock band
Cold Chisel.
Background
The
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
qualified for their first grand final appearance since 2006, and had never previously been defeated in a grand final, winning all six they have featured in – 1992, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2006, and 1997 for Super League. It was Brisbane coach
Wayne Bennett's ninth involvement in a grand final after coaching the club in all of their previous grand final appearances, as well as co-coaching the
Canberra Raiders to their maiden grand final in
1987
Events January
* January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.
* January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
* January 3 – Afghan leader ...
and winning a premiership title for the
St George Illawarra Dragons in
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
. The
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
reached the premiership deciding game for the second time in their history since their inception into the competition in 1995, after losing to the
Wests Tigers in their first appearance in
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
. It was the second time in history that no New South Wales team had featured in the grand final after
2006 which featured the Broncos up against the
Melbourne Storm, and is the first time that a grand final featured two Queensland-based clubs. It was also the first time that two clubs
captained by
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
played in an NRL grand final.
2015 season
Brisbane, who finished second in the regular season ladder, and North Queensland, who finished third, faced each other during the first week of the finals series in a qualification game, with the Brisbane side prevailing 16-12 in a tight contest at
Suncorp Stadium
Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...
to earn a week off and the right to host a grand final qualifier. Brisbane defeated minor premiers the
Sydney Roosters
Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...
31-12 in the preliminary final at
Suncorp Stadium
Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...
to claim the first spot in the grand final. In losing to the Brisbane side, North Queensland were forced to play an extra week in the finals and faced the sixth-placed
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at their home venue of
1300SMILES Stadium, beating them convincingly 39-0. They then qualified for the grand final after defeating the
Melbourne Storm 32-12 in their preliminary final at
AAMI Park.
Teams
Officials
Opening Games
U20s Grand Final
NRL State Championship
Match summary
1st half
After an even opening five minutes, the first points of the game were scored by the Brisbane side in the sixth minute, when a North Queensland handling error in midfield followed shortly by a penalty allowed
Corey Parker to kick a 40-metre penalty goal.
The Brisbane side then returned the first tackle after the restart for the opening try of the game, after a late offload on his own ten-metre line from
Adam Blair to
Anthony Milford allowed Milford to set up a line-break down the left wing, culminating in a try to
Corey Oates; Parker converted the try and Brisbane led 8–0.
The Broncos then knocked on shortly after the restart, and North Queensland scored its opening try from the ensuing scrum set piece, with
Jake Granville breaking the line to set up
Justin O'Neill for the try;
Johnathan Thurston converted and Brisbane led 8–6.
North Queensland nearly scored again three minutes later, with Oates making a try-saving tackle on
Kyle Feldt after a pass from
Lachlan Coote.
Over the ensuing fifteen minutes, North Queensland had the better of possession and field position. In the 24th minute, attacking from a repeat set which had followed a grubber kick,
James Tamou took the first pass out of dummy half and scored under the posts; Thurston converted the try to give North Queensland a 12–8 lead.
Brisbane scored an opportunistic try in the 34th minute, when Thurston lost the ball in a tackle in North Queensland territory, and
Matt Gillett recovered for Brisbane and broke the line to put
Jack Reed over for a try;
Jordan Kahu converted and Brisbane regained a 14–12 lead which it took to half time.
2nd half
Jordan Kahu kicked a penalty goal in the 43rd minute to extend Brisbane's lead to 16–12.
From that point, the game played out as a defensive battle in Brisbane territory. North Queensland had the better of possession and field position, and generated several repeat sets in attack, but were unable to score due to a combination of poor execution and Brisbane's stout goal line defence. Brisbane actively sought to defend its lead, kicking for touch on the sixth tackle throughout most of the second half to wind down the clock and to slow the game down to manage fatigue.
North Queensland's two closest opportunities came in the 61st minute, when
Kane Linnett dropped a cut-out pass from Thurston which would have seen him score out wide; and in the 64th minute, when fullback Coote was tackled around the legs by Gillett just short of the try line – Coote reached out to put the ball over the line and was penalised for a double movement.
With four minutes remaining, and the ball deep in North Queensland's territory,
Ben Hunt conceded a penalty for a dangerous lifting tackle on Linnett, giving North Queensland field position. North Queensland failed to score on the ensuing set; but on Brisbane's following set, Brisbane failed to get to a sixth tackle kick away, after Feldt stripped the ball one-on-one from Hunt at midfield on fourth tackle with one minute remaining.
North Queensland attacked, and on the sixth tackle, after a couple of powerful runs from forwards Taumalolo, Tamou and Scott, Thurston received the ball on the left edge, beat a couple of tackles, looked left before floating a pass right to link up with his five-eighth
Michael Morgan who ran diagonally right, cut in to draw three Brisbane defenders then as the full time siren sounded, 5 metres out flicked a short outside pass to winger Feldt whom Oates left unmarked providing him the opportunity to score just inside the right corner post to level the match up at 16-16.
Jonathon Thurston had a conversion attempt from the right touchline after full time to win the match. He took a long time to compose himself for the kick, however the ball failed to break enough to the left, hitting the right upright half way up and bouncing out, leaving the game tied up at 16–16 and heading into golden point extra time to break the deadlock.
Extra time
North Queensland kicked off first in extra time, and the opening kick-off was knocked on by Ben Hunt, immediately giving North Queensland an attacking scrum on Brisbane's ten-metre line.
North Queensland set up for the game-winning
field goal, and after aborting attempts on the first and third tackles due to strong defensive pressure from the Broncos, Johnathan Thurston was able to make up for his missed conversion by slotting the field goal on the fourth tackle from 20 metres out to win the game 17–16. It was the first time an NRL Grand Final had been decided in Golden Point.
Post-match
At the post-match ceremony, Johnathan Thurston received the Clive Churchill medal as best on ground. This was then followed by the championship ring ceremony and the co-captains holding the Provan-Summons trophy.
Thurston drew praise for his post-match conduct, notably consoling Ben Hunt. Many consider the image of Thurston hugging his daughter to be the 'best image' of the grand final.
Aftermath
Most commentators, analysts and fans rate the 2015 Grand Final as one of, if not the greatest ever played, ranking it alongside the 1989 decider.
Despite this, the golden point conclusion after Hunt's opening error was considered dissatisfying, and it was a key reason for a change of rules made the following year. Since 2016, tied finals have instead been decided by 10 minutes of extra time (five minutes each way) played in full, with golden point used only if still level after 90 minutes.
Both grand finalists, North Queensland and Brisbane, as well as minor premiers the
Sydney Roosters
Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...
, qualified for the second
World Club Series, played in the 2016 pre-season against clubs from the
Super League
Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
.
See also
*
Queensland derby
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:NRL Grand Final
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
Brisbane Broncos matches
North Queensland Cowboys matches
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...