AFTER his side lost nine matches by four points or fewer last season, Cronulla halfback Brett Kimmorley held an impromptu field-goal practice session at Olympic Park on Saturday before yesterday's main event. And then, with just over a minute left on the clock, Kimmorley struck the winning field-goal to end a gripping, absorbing and ultimately brutal encounter.
Talk about timing. "It was lucky, I suppose," said Kimmorley, who was aided by a strong wind and an equally robust connection. "It's pretty good how a little kick can end a lot of bad work. I was fortunate enough [that] I came here yesterday and had a plod around and did a few field-goals. It's something we've worked on a lot at the club after losing so many tight games … I've missed plenty, but I'll take today."
Playing against his old club and at a ground he knows well, it was fitting that Kimmorley found the field-goal finish to this game.
The Olympic Park crowd cheered when he was hit hard during, but ultimately were silenced when his kick sailed between the posts at the death.
"It's always good coming here," said Kimmorley, who has now beaten two of his former clubs (if Northern Eagles still count as Manly) in successive weeks. "It's always special for me to come here and play. I go to Brookvale and I hear boos, but here, it's very special. I appreciate what this club did for me. I won my only grand final here."
It was a remarkable finish to a remarkable game, which began and ended with a flourish. Five tries in the first 21 minutes … then very little … and then Kimmorley's right boot.
In some ways, Kimmorley has had a wretched time at Cronulla recently. Seemingly unwanted last season, he lost the captaincy over the summer. But he can still win games.
There is work to be done yet for the side. Coach Ricky Stuart proved he is a hard man to please when he claimed parts of Cronulla's performance yesterday were unprofessional. Let's remember: they beat the premiers.
"I'm still a bit disappointed with the way we had so many unprofessional turnovers," Stuart said. "It's just too much disrespect for the football, and makes it so much harder work for ourselves. It happened last week as well, just unprofessional turnovers that [make] our team have to do so much more defensive work.
"There were times when all we had to do was complete one more or two more tackles, punch the ball into a corner and be tackling them down their end of the football field and make it a little bit easier for us. But no, we want to do a silly thing with the football and drop it. It's unacceptable and it's got to be fixed, because we can't continue … making it too hard for ourselves.
"We wanted to get to eight out of eight and start all over again, and we did that. Then we completed the next four of 11 sets. Don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon about the result … but I've told the players that I feel sorry for them. I don't think they realise how much extra work they're creating for themselves."
Back-rower Paul Gallen, who replaced Kimmorley as skipper, added: "We were pretty lucky today. We didn't play well at all, and we probably deserved to get beaten."
And so a team manages to sink the boot in to the opposition, and themselves, within the space of a half hour. It was that sort of afternoon.
