A challenge by NRL chief executive Dave Smith to Curtis Landers as the teen was laid up in his hospital bed led to him tossing the coin for the captains at the grand final. Landers was given little chance of walking again after he broke his neck playing rugby league but has defied the odds. "I was honoured to do something that I will remember for a long time," Landers said.
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"Dave Smith and [former Bulldogs skipper] Andrew Ryan have done a lot for me. When I was unable to walk, Dave set me the challenge of walking up the tunnel and tossing the coin on grand final day."
Rabbitohs play hard to get
Grand final week is littered with bizarre antics from the combatants. But South Sydney outdid even the Des Hasler coached Canterbury in terms of paranoia. Redfern Oval was placed into lockdown on Friday morning, with barricades erected around the ground and a security guard hired to keep the Bunnies away from prying eyes while coach Michael Maguire was so concerned about his team getting too far ahead of themselves, he even put Rabbitohs legends on media bans by urging them to talk down his side's chances.
But the strangest occurrence was when South Sydney denied Fairfax Media's request for Kyle Turner to take a picture outside his family home, which was decorated in red and green. T
he Rabbitohs said Turner's parents were "keen to leave it" but when the family were contacted by your columnists, they were more than willing to celebrate their son's achievements only to call back and say the Rabbitohs would not allow it. As a result, the story of Turner's passion for the Rabbitohs was lost.
Business as usual
South Sydney and Canterbury bucked the usual trend of going into camp for the premiership decider – instead the players spent Saturday night at their own homes in a bid to keep their preparation "as normal" as possible.
A group of Canterbury players tried to take their mind off the match by going for a a swim at Cronulla.
Naiqamas' special day
Wes and Kevin Naiqama played alongside each other for perhaps the last time in Penrith's NRL state championship loss against Northern Pride on Sunday. After one season at Penrith, Kevin is set to join the Wests Tigers next year while Wes will be England-bound, joining the London Broncos. The pair may still feature together for Fiji.
Fellow Fijian and Penrith teammate Eto Nabuli is expected to join St George Illawarra. Speaking of the inaugural state championships, the Northern Pride pocketed $25,000 and the loser walked away with nothing.
One plane, two stories
The Broncos and the Northern Pride didn't hang around after their matches on Sunday. Both Queensland teams were straight off to the airport after the game, not even hanging around for the main game. There would have been two differing groups on the flight home. The Broncos missed a goal from the sideline on the stroke of full time that would have sent the game into extra time, while the Pride clawed back from a 12-point deficit to beat Penrith.
Tayta's into TV
She's Canterbury's No.1 fan but Tayta El-Hage from social media phenomenon Tayta Tube wasn't at ANZ Stadium on Sunday. She's been a Canterbury fan for 35 years but has never been to a game. She watched the game at her son's house in Belmore.
Scribes taste defeat
The gates had only been open for a minute when both Sin Bin scribes took to the field for a game of touch football against the Australian women's team. Let's just say Michael Ennis would have had more luck trying to stop them. Thankfully the game ended after 15 minutes and seven tries, none of which were scored by the media team, which featured the likes of Brett Finch, Josh Perry and Matt Shirvington.
We imagine Des Hasler wouldn't have been too happy to have a couple of "athletes" in his change room and ice bath before kick off.
