Cooper Cronk has shown no weight is too heavy for his busted shoulder.
The Sydney Roosters' decision to gamble on the injured halfback paid off after he helped steer the side to a 21-6 grand final win over former club Melbourne.
Luke Keary and James Tedesco set up all three Roosters' tries between them, while Keary also sealed the win with a 20-metre field goal.
But it was the brave performance of Cronk that will overshadow the final game of champion Storm fullback Billy Slater and go down in rugby league history.
It was later revealed Cronk played with a fractured shoulder blade.
"I've never seen a guy as mentally strong as Cooper Cronk. It's legend status in our game that, and it's not an understatement," coach Trent Robinson said.
Cooper Cronk starred despite carrying an injury.
AAP
"What that guy had to do this week to get there was incredible."
The contest turned ugly when Storm star Cameron Munster kicked the head of Joey Manu in the 78th minute and was sin-binned for a second time.
After a week of intense speculation over his playing status due to a shoulder injury, Cronk was officially named to play an hour before kickoff on Sunday.
But Cronk - who lifted the trophy with the Storm last year and was controversially lured to the Roosters to win a title - was limited to pointing and running decoys.
As he did in the second half of last week's preliminary final win over South Sydney, he also craftily hid himself against a Storm attack that struggled to target him.
With an ANZ Stadium crowd of 82,688 watching on, he missed none of his eight tackles in a courageous effort before bowing out with two minutes to go.
