SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 12: Nicho Hynes of the Indigenous All Stars is tackled during the match between the Men's Indigenous All Stars and the Men's Maori All Stars at CommBank Stadium on February 12, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
The NRL All Stars finally brought rugby league back to Sydney, and back to TV screens with the season rapidly approaching last night at a wet and wild CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, with the Maori team running out 16 points to 10 winners over the Indigenous side.
In a display of passion and culture, the game, for the second straight year, went down to the final minute.
A draw last year was followed this time around by the Maori team clinging onto their six-point lead to turn it into a victory by the slimmest of margins, keeping out a last-ditch attacking raid by the Indigenous.
It was exactly what the game - close all the way - deserved. While there were questions in the lead up as players, worried by COVID and a lack of preparation for the new season, withdrew, but there were no questions on the night.
The pre-match ceremony was something to behold, and so was the match. Fights are rare in the regular season, but the teams came together in scuffles on a number of occasions on Saturday evening as passion and intensity spilt over.
It might yet cost Jordan Rapana and Andrew Fifita, who were both put on report and will face a nervous wait for the judiciary to determine their fates, but the game proved once and for all that it belongs, with a crowd of more than 26,000 on hand to witness it, despite the prevailing COVID threat and horrid weather conditions.
Here are the big points from the game.
Joseph Tapine, picked to captain the Maori All Stars team, led from the front in what was a stand out performance for the Raiders.
The bustling prop had a less than excellent 2021 season in a Raiders team which just couldn't find their groove. Josh Papalii might be the pack leader, but he needs support in far better ways than he got it last year.
That has to start and end with Tapine.
Part of this equation will be on Ricky Stuart to ensure he is playing in roles that suit him, with minutes that suit him, but Tapine has always felt like an under-utilised talent during his time in the NRL, stretching right back to his days at the Newcastle Knights.
Being unvaccinated - as reported during the week - could yet play a role in the type of season Tapine has, given the Raiders are scheduled to play three games in Queensland and one in Victoria - but it won't stop him from being a weapon when he is on the park.
If anything, he proved last night that he is fit and ready for the season ahead.
It's up to the Raiders to use him properly and allow him to join Papalii and co in laying the platform for a much better 2022, and with a proper kicking game led by Jamal Fogarty, Jack Wighton back to his best and the excitement of Xavier Savage, it's a Raiders team who are only a few pieces of the puzzle away from being excellent.
Tapine is one of the biggest pieces.
One of the more surprising efforts in Saturday evening's game was the performance of Erin Clark.
The Titans hooking department has looked in a horrid way heading into the 2022 season. This is a team who even last year struggled at number nine, but then baffingly let Mitch Rein go, with the veteran now having joined the Parramatta Eels where he will play second fiddle to Reed Mahoney.
Clark will likely battle Melbourne Storm recruit Aaron Booth for a spot at number nine, while there has also been plenty of talk that Tanah Boyd could yet play the role, or at the very least, contribute off the bench.
Clark's performance in the All Stars game - selected to start at nine - was excellent though and he has clearly had an enormous pre-season.
The Titans so desperately need a good number nine to round out an exciting spine featuring Jayden Campbell at the back, to go with AJ Brimson and Toby Sexton in the halves, and Clark might just be that if last night is anything to go by.
He wound up with 37 tackles in 61 minutes for the Maori side, but more impressively, didn't overplay his hand and provided quality service. That is the exact role he needs to play at the Titans given the skill around him.
The weather meant it was hardly the night to be judging halves, creativity and the ability of razzle-dazzle, but that wouldn't have bothered Sharks fans one iota.
After a year where he mostly played at the back for the Melbourne Storm, Nicho Hynes is set to run out in the halves at his new club in Cronulla.
That comes with new coach Craig Fitzgibbon clearly seeing his value in the front line, as well as the fact William Kennedy had an incredible 2021 season and can't be displaced from the number one jumper.
While the razzle-dazzle might not have been on display, Sharks fans had it confirmed that Hynes had a kicking game, and a very strong one at that.
The Indigenous may not have won, but Hynes' constant threat taking on the line - he ran for more than 100 metres - as well as the nearly 300 metres he kicked for, most of it very accurate and born out of good decision making, will leave Cronulla fans happy with what they saw.
We knew this last year, but Dylan Walker played partly on the wing and partly in the centres for the Maori last night and did it excellently.
He might want to return to a starting position, but he has become too valuable off the bench for the Sea Eagles to even consider it.
He played multiple positions during 2021, although it was his regular transformation into a ball-playing lock which told the story of his season.
He came out during the week suggesting he had lost the love for the game before he found his way into the middle third, and yet, the change in role hasn't seen him diminish from other roles, as evidenced on Saturday evening.
He ran for 120 metres in the All Stars game, played for all 80 minutes and looked excellent out wide, and yet, come Round 1 for Manly, he will be back in the middle third, ready to cover just about anywhere on the park if there is an injury.
The Sea Eagles' performances will be defined by Tom Trbojevic - don't get me wrong. But they won't be anywhere near the top if Dylan Walker isn't fit and firing.
Frankly, David Fifita was mostlty ineffective during the game - not helped of course by spending a portion of it injured.
But it only took a single run to remind everyone, and more importantly, his coach at the Gold Coast Titans Justin Holbrook why he must be in the starting side when their season commences with a difficult clash against the Parramatta Eels.
As Indigenous coach Laurie Daley described it after the game, Fifita made it look like the under-12s when he received a ball from Nicho Hynes and proceeded to trample absolutely everyone.
VFre players have the ability to turn a game on its head in the same way that Fifita does, but in setting up a try last night against the run of play, he did just that.
He did it on multiple occasions for the Titans last year too, whether starting or coming off the bench, but there is no point having him come off the bench and into a team which is behind.
Consistency will be the key this year for the barnstorming State of Origin calibre second-rower, but it's up to Holbrook to use him in the right times.
Those right times are the first 20 minutes as the Titans look to set the tempo.
This was the question leading into the game, and while this pre-season saw more withdrawals from the game than any other in recent memory, it's to be expected in the current climate.
But still, players like Shaquai Mitchell being included left fans scratching their heads at how this could possibly be called the "All Stars."
And yet, it took all of about five minutes of game time, as well as the pre-match ceremony, for that to be tossed out the back window.
The game was played with intensity, passion and pride for the jersey. It might have been pre-season, but only the rust in players would tell you that, not helped of course by the rain.
It was as important to the 40 players selected as any club, finals or State of Origin game, and the fans turned up in their droves to support despite the weather.
This game belongs, and no one will be able to convince anyone otherwise.