A Grand Final spot was on the line when Brian Smith's all-conquering Eels met the defending premiers, Brisbane, at Stadium Australia. Subscribe for more NRL Throwback content: / @nrlthrowback
I remember watching this game and being dead nervous because the club had lost three previous preliminary finals in a row. To actually make the grand final in itself was a psychological hurdle for some of the players in the team.
Hard to say, Brisbane when it came to grand finals at least had a lot more experience than Parramatta, I don't think any of the Parramatta players had ever played in a GF before where as most of the Brisbane players had been in at least three already.
I know he got the Clive Churchill medal but for me Ben Kennedy and Billy Peden were the players who tore Parramatta to shreds in the first half of that GF in 2001.
