MARK ‘SPUDD’ CARROLL: Newcastle Knights were spent emotionally long before Grand Final loss to Roosters

I was fortunate enough to play in three grand finals and can tell you the game is often won and lost in the week leading up to it.

As soon as I saw the scenes at Accor Stadium after Newcastle beat Penrith in the preliminary final, I felt the Roosters were deadest specials to take out the premiership.

And while the result was a lot closer than I thought — I was predicting a 13-plus win for Trent Robinson’s men — that’s the way it turned out.

Full marks to the Knights and congratulations on going from last to grand finalists inside 12 months.

That’s a massive, massive effort that will be talked about for years to come.

The underdogs started like a house on fire but ran out of steam in the second half when the Roosters’ class, precision and muscle kicked in.

The Chooks had to survive a late scare but the result never really looked in doubt once they took control.

All their big games players aimed up when it counted.

The Knights were brave but just didn’t have the same quality as the boys from Bondi.

They’d played their grand final the week before when they courageously held on with 12 men against Penrith.

Players and fans celebrated like they’d already won the comp.

All week the focus was on Newcastle and how 50,000 Novocastrians would be travelling down the M1 on Sid Fogg’s fleet of buses to take over the ground.

It seemed every second house in the Hunter was painted red and blue, butchers were producing snags in club colours and a Knights jersey was the only dress code permitted.

Open training sessions in front of thousands of noisy and passionate fans only added to the pandemonium.

On top of all that there was the distraction and emotion of the Phoenix Crossland case, two or three trips to Sydney and back inside a few days, the Silverchair reunion campaign and endless media interviews.

Sadly, the players also had to deal with the horrific traffic incident on Saturday when fans were struck by a car as they farewelled the team from Newcastle.

Football rightly comes second when you are dealing with something like that.

All that fan support came from the right place and reminded us of what a great rugby league city Newcastle is.

But it left me wondering when the team found the time to train properly and fully focus on the task at hand.

As mentioned above, there were plenty of reasons to be sidetracked.

The Roosters, in comparison, were almost forgotten in the build-up.

They were able to go about their business in peace, away from the intense spotlight.

As for my old sparring partner DCE, I am willing to lay down my arms and congratulate you on a fantastic win and fitting end to your NRL career.

While I still can’t stomach the way you went about your departure from Manly, you have a premiership ring to prove it was the right call.

Your field goal will do down as the most important one-pointer in Roosters’ history.

So, as a sign of peace, I’m willing to throw you a farewell barbie if you want to drop around to my place before you leave for England.

And the first round of Spuddwisers are on me.

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED

I know the sentiment behind the pre-game entertainment came from the right place.

Anything that celebrates Jai Arrow and raises awareness about MND can only be a good thing.

But the show in general didn’t do much for me – and I noted plenty of people agreed with me.

All the artists who performed are good at what they do but all seemed to be competing against each other.

I’m not sure if that was the whole idea, but it left me a bit confused and disappointed.

I said it last week and I’ll say it again - PVL dropped the ball (for one of the only times) in not nailing down a big-name act.

I hope he has a re-think about brushing entertainment in the future and goes after a global superstar.

Let’s dream big and reach out to a Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi.

Or, as I mentioned last week, my rock band – the True Sports featuring me, Eric Grothe snr, Richard Chee Quee, Gavin Robertson and Rick Grossman from the Hoodoo Gurus - are only ever a phone call away!

The game’s biggest day demands quality entertainment.

BEFORE I GO

It’s time for change to the Dally M voting system after Justin Holbrook was overlooked as coach-of-the-year.

While I get the player award is decided on performances in the regular season, why can’t the best coach award include the finals?

The winner – Warriors coach Andrew Webster - did a great job getting his team into the play-offs but they were stage struck when the big games rolled around, departing in straight sets.

Meanwhile, Justin Holbrook engineered one of the great coaching performances of all time to lift last year’s wooden spooners Newcastle into the grand final.

Surely that out-strips what the Warriors did.

Webster looked a bit red-faced collecting top prize and I don’t blame him.

It should have gone to Holbrook, no doubt about it.

And while I’m at it, how in the hell did Mark Nawaqanitawase not win winger-of-the-year?

Embarrassing.