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. Source: 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.
He could barely lift his left arm, let alone pass, kick or tackle, yet it was the Storm that were immobilised by a rampant and meticulous Roosters attack.
An early Mitchell penalty goal gave the Roosters first points, but Keary set up the first try with a long ball for Daniel Tupou in the eighth minute.
Keary was also involved for the second, sending an early ball for Mitchell to swat aside Will Chambers and claim first points in their anticipated battle.
While the Roosters were pinpoint with their ball-use, the Storm were uncharacteristically wasteful with theirs.
Felise Kaufusi and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, the latter of whom eyed off Cronk before dropping the ball, came up with ill-timed turnovers in the first half.
And the Roosters made them pay.
The Roosters celebrate in their dressing room after their win. Source: AAP
Jake Friend took off from Asofa-Solomona's error, resulting in Munster being the first player to be sin-binned in a grand final since Canterbury's Terry Lamb against Manly in 1995.
The killer blow came just minutes before the break, when Tedesco caught the Storm napping on a short side move for Joseph Manu to score in the corner.
Down three tries midway through the second half, the Storm got one back when Josh Addo-Carr intercepted a Keary pass and raced 85 metres to score.
But the Keary one-pointer finished off the game, before Munster was also marched a second time as Cronk was substituted from the field.
Slater admitted they gave the Roosters too much of a start.
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"That's the way it goes sometimes. They were better than us in the first half, they got out to a big lead and we couldn't pull them back in," Slater said.
"But I am really grateful for the career I have had, for the friends that I have made and what league has done for me."
