Snapshot of the NRL grand final

A look at the Sydney Roosters' 21-6 NRL grand final win over Melbourne at ANZ Stadium.

SNAPSHOT OF THE SYDNEY ROOSTERS' 21-6 NRL GRAND FINAL WIN OVER MELBOURNE

* RESULT: Sydney Roosters 19 defeated Melbourne 6 in front of 82,688 fans at ANZ Stadium.

* THE STORY: The Sydney Rooster turned in one of the great grand final performances as they blew the clinical Melbourne off the park. Halfback Cooper Cronk played with a broken scapula and performed as an on-field coach and little more. Their forwards, led by the likes of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Victor Radley, dominated their opposition. They looked more energetic, more confident and won all the little battles. Melbourne great Billy Slater bowed out with a disappointing grand final loss.

* KEY MOMENT: Latrell Mitchell left Will Chambers grasping at air and then swan-dived over the line to give the Roosters a 12-0 lead after 16 minutes. He stood over Billy Slater as he slammed the ball down. It was a statement from the Roosters centre and it set the tone for the rest of the game.

* KEY PERFORMANCE: With Cooper Cronk effectively playing with one arm, his halves partner Luke Keary took the game by the scruff of the neck. He took on all the kicking and threw a beautiful harbour-bridge pass for Daniel Tupou's opening try. While Cronk was the one directing traffic, Keary came up with the big plays, including slotting the field goal that put the game beyond doubt 11 minutes from fulltime.

* KEY QUOTE: "We knew Coops was touch-and-go there. He pulled through. It was touch and go all the way up until game time. We had to make up a game plan where we protect him as much as possible, we executed that ... Just through him being there, him at 30 per cent. We want him on the field. I think it will come out a bit later but he actually broke his scapula. That's a big performance by Coops and it'll go down in history." - Sydney Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner.

* KEY STAT: Zero runs, eight tackles, four kicks - the amount of work Cronk got through in 78 minutes of football.

* JUDICIARY WATCH: Melbourne: Cameron Munster (dangerous contact).

* INJURIES: Sydney Roosters: Cooper Cronk (shoulder).


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Source: AAP



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Snapshot of the NRL grand final | SBS News