The 2011 NRL competition was very interesting for a number of reasons.
One was that Melbourne Storm was disqualified last year by exceeding the salary cap and had a lot to prove in 2011 and did so, by being the outstanding team in the regular competition team winning the minor premiership hands down.
The Brisbane Broncos also had emotion on their side with the retirement of one of the super stars of the NRL, Darren Lockyer.
Recent new boys, the Gold Coast Titans last year was one of the new breed of 'super team' yet they failed miserably this year (2011) and that was a real turn up! The Penrith Panthers had a team to die for, yet they too were left by the way side, and Wests Tigers with their never-say-die style of rugby league football again came close to being one the majors (the final four).
When it all came down to the majors in this 2011 competition the strange part of it was that each team represented four different regions of the NRL.
Brisbane Broncos was from Queensland, Manly Seagles from New South Wales, Melbourne Storm from Victoria and the fourth was the New Zealand Warriors. No region was left out of the majors.
History tells us that Manly is the team to hate with their silver tail image, yet Manly was given huge respect in the home region of this sport, New South Wales, and were clearly the favourites coming into this 2011 NRL Grand Final.
To reach the Grand Final they gave the Brisbane Broncos a bit of a lesson in match play even taking into account that Darren Lockyer was injured. The New Zealand Warriors likewise gave the Melbourne Storm a 'finals' thrashing of their life, which was even more noticeable seeing their players shrugging their shoulders in despair as that match drew ever closer to the final whistle.
In the end, Manly won convincingly, but that wasn't the case right up until 90 seconds from the end when they went over again to score their second try of the second half to make it four tries to two all up.
The New Zealand Warriors were behind two tries to nil at half time, then the Manly Seagles made it three tries to nil after the break. The Warriors then found their footing and in no time at all, had scored two tries of their own, but their kicker missed the extras each time. For a while it looked as though their creative displays might bring additional points, but alas it wasn't to be.
In my view, no one would have come away from watching this 2011 Grand Final without realising they were witnessing not only the winning team in Manly being deserved winners but also recognising 'real champions' in the New Zealand Warriors with youth on their side.