It was. The Rhinos were relentless. Still gutted that we never took Wigan in the final.

No the 1998 game. Brilliant forward pack.

Can anyone tell which which game it was when Sinfield almost had his jaw broken?. If I remember he was out cold almost but got up and kicked a penalty.

2012 Grand Final vs Warrington.

Yeah, still can't believe Monaghan got away with that. Completely pee-meditated.
Wire would have won that game nowadays as Sinfield would have gone off as per protocol.
Some players would never have recovered after a knock ike that....

IIRC correctly, Sinny was MoM in each of the four games it took to reach and win that title, and was 100% with his kicking. Astonishing performance. When people go on about Farrell and O'Loughlin, I'd like them to show me anything they ever did to compare to what Sir Kev acheived that season..

Definitely pre-meditated, a typical example of refs letting things go in the Grand Final that normally they would penalise. Another prime example would Liam Farrell sliding in with knees just as McGuire scored in the 2015 Grand Final. Fouled in the act of scoring, definite 8 point try but not reviewed at all. McGuire got up angry but got caught up in teammates hugs before he got to Farrell.

Not to mention the kick in the nuts which was probably more painful Always knew Kev had balls of steel.

We had some other strange calls a against us in that Warrington game. Hall has a try ruled out from a brilliant flat pass by Sinfield. Myler basically smacks Hardaker in the head before their second half try.
Shows how mentally strong that group was.....

Watching some of the stuff from the 90's, does anything think the game was a better spectacle compared to now? There was no wrestle, and the attack wasn't as contrived as it is now with all the pre-rehed patterns and dummy runners.

Oh absolutely. I’ve always said the game was better to watch in the 90’s and 2000’s. 2009 ish onwards in my opinion is when it started to degrade in terms of spectacle.

What I would vehemently deny is that the quality is lower now. Just take a look at the defences, even in some of the grand finals in the 2000’s and they’re nothing like today’s.

Defences appear better now because it's impossible to get a quick PTB and attack has become one dimensional..

Personally I think from 1998 - til around 2008 was the most entertaining era, it had just the right balance of aggressive defence and free flowing attacking rugby.

Anything earlier still looks a bit old fashioned to me (not that theres anything wrong with that style it's just different), we moan about messy play the balls now but between those and the scrums the game was far messier back then.

You see I think one of the reasons the game isn't as entertaining as it was is the obsession the game had with trying to get quick play the balls, that why attacks are so flat these days and the ruck appears messier.

The early to mid 90's teams under Doug were a joy to watch when they were on, no better sight in rugby than Kevin Iro when he was in the mood.