The final day of each year is often a day we look back on the positive and negative events that have occurred since this time last year.
2016, in terms of sport, can be summed up as both the year of the underdog and the year many, many, title droughts were broken.
Leicester City lifting the EPL trophy in early 2016 was a shock, the Dogs winning the AFL flag was astonishing, while the Sharks made it all worth-while for their long-suffering fans by ending the season in perfect fashion.
Below are my four standout highlights of the rugby league year, in my eyes.
4. Loyalty returns
I, like many others, celebrated the closing of rugby league’s most ridiculous loophole when the NRL ruled that players could no longer sign contracts only to backflip months later.
As a result, we were spared the media circus that saw the likes of Daly Cherry-Evan paraded around multiple clubs, sign a huge marquee deal, yet renege and sign for the club we all thought he would end up staying at anyways.
I genuinely believe this hand a small part in the fact we have seen a host of off-contract stars re-signed by their clubs. Gallen, Lewis, and Cronk headlined a list of veterans who could have cashed in elsewhere yet stayed loyal to their club, while the likes of Moses, French, the Turbo brothers and Kane Elgey all pledged their exciting futures to their clubs.
Last season we saw millions of dollars of talent switch clubs to the point it was near impossible to predict some team line-ups just weeks out from the competition kicking off.
Of course, there were big name moves, like Tamou’s shift to Penrith, and youngsters who saw opportunities and dollars elsewhere, such as Ponga who will move to Newcastle in 2018, but by and large, there weren’t huge upheavals of big name players like we’ve seen in previous seasons.
For clubs like Newcastle, this isn’t ideal, as they really needed some marquee signings, but for fans of most clubs, it’s a huge positive.
3. Try-scoring freaks debut
2016 saw the debut of a host of NRL regulars and more than a few potential mega-stars.
At the top of that list are young Bevan French and Suliasi Vunivalu, who burst onto the scene in a big way, scoring bags of tries in the process.
French scored 19 tries in just 13 games, while Vunivalu beat a certain Wallabies try-scoring record by scoring 23 times in his 21 games.
French, yet to turn 21, set the nine’s competition alight before debuting in the NRL in round 12. It’s insanity to think he was able to score 19 tries in so few games, but what is downright scary is the fact he’ll likely see more ball next season with a permanent move to fullback likely.
Vunivalu’s 23 tries went a long way to propelling the Storm to yet another Grand Final. To think he only came into the side after a long list of injuries created an opportunity makes his effort even more remarkable.
Elsewhere, rising superstar Valentine Holmes tied Cronulla’s all-time season try scoring record with 19, Jordan Rapana touched down 23 times, while fellow Raider Jarrod Crocker scored 18 of his own.
2. Kangaroos jersey means something again
Despite what anyone says, Origin is the pinnacle of rep footy, not representing your nation. This is a sad but true reality that has seen players switch allegiance from their country of birth to Australia, with an Origin jersey in mind.
This season, Mal Meninga brought prestige back to the green and gold Kangaroo jumper by making it mean something again.
He sent a message in omitting players with off-field distractions and indiscretions and picked players who he believed represented everything about the jumper, not just on the field.
Although some selections caused controversy and will no doubt be discussed below, there is no arguing the fact that the Roos win over the Kiwis in the four-nations tournament meant more than any other victory in many years.
With a World Cup around the corner, the ARL needs the Roos jersey to mean something if it is any hope of making the Aussie/Kiwi/PNG hosted event matter to the public.
The correct steps were taken this year and let’s hope it continues in 2017. If so, it will be embraced.
1. Sharks end title drought
2015’s Grand Final saw the Cowboys win their first title in one of the best games of the modern era. The spectacle was never to be beaten. The drama was never to be equalled. The party that eventuated was never to be matched …
For 12 months.
The Sharks scramble defence in the hectic final seconds of a second straight classic Grand Final, saw the team capture their very first NRL title, and set off a party in the Shire that will genuinely never be matched.
You really couldn’t write a better finish. The club, by all rights, could very well have exited the competition multiple times over the past decade.
Instead, the players and 78,000 odd fans stood as one at ANZ Stadium to watch Paul Gallen lift the Provan-Summons trophy as "Up Up Cronulla" looped infinite times across the stadium.
Fifita’s try summed up the hunger in the club, as he fended off a host of defenders to reach out and score. Simply put, he, and the Sharks, could not be stopped.
They broke all sorts of records this year, including smashing the club’s previous winning streak. Valentine Holmes equalled David Peachey’s try-scoring record for a season.
Unofficially, James Maloney and Michael Ennis will battle it out for the club’s best ever recruit, after of course Paul Gallen.
Given the sporting insanity that gripped the world across the previous 12 months, the Sharks winning the title, when many said they literally never would, may have been the greatest sporting fairy-tale of all.
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