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Full-time: Sydney Roosters 21 (Daniel Tupou, Latrell Mitchell & Joseph Manu tries; Mitchell four goals; Keary field goal) Melbourne Storm 6 (Josh Addo-Carr try; Cameron Smith goal)
And indeed, Keary is named Clive Churchill Medallist, deservedly so.
80th minute: Roosters 21 Storm 6
Friend has the ball and runs back towards his own line, stalling for the final siren. It sounds the Roosters begin their celebrations.
Brave effort from Cronk, great performance from Keary, who must surely take the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match.
Disappointment for the Storm, especially their legendary fullback, who retires on that note.
78th minute: Roosters 21 Storm 6
Munster is sent to the sin bin for the second time, after clipping a boot into a tackle. He won't be back.
Cronk leaves the game, favouring that shoulder, but he's done his job superbly.
Mitchell slots the penalty.
76th minute: Roosters 19 Storm 6
Croft chips towards the corner, looking for Vunivalu, but Tupou is safe under the ball. There's now way through for the Storm.
75th minute: Roosters 19 Storm 6
Storm are looking for a way through the defence, but there is none. Scott is cut down and loses the ball in the tackle 10m out.
74th minute: Roosters 19 Storm 6
Another penalty against the Roosters for off-side at the play-the-ball. That's three quick ones and they're warned.
73rd minute: Roosters 19 Storm 6
Roosters are penalised and Kenny Bromwich takes a quick tap to scramble 10metres. Roosters are penalised again - they're just hanging on now.
70th minute: Roosters 19 Storm 6
Cam Smith takes a shot kick-off, but the ball goes into touch off a Storm player - Roosters ball.
69th minute: Roosters 19 Storm 6
Roosters set up for the field goal - it's passed back to Keary, who slots it from in front.
Silly Blighter appeals for obstruction, but reviews show otherwise.
68th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 6
Keary puts up a high kick and Vunivalu can't gather it cleanly. Silly Blighter goes off at the ref, but Roosters have another set in good position.
66th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 6
Keary kicks to the corner, towards Tupou, and Vunivalu takes his opposite in the air. No call and the ball is handed over to Melbourne.
64th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 6
TRY to Addo-Carr. Roosters are hot on attack, with Keary streaking towards the line, but his pass is picked off by Addo-Car and no-one will catch him in a straight sprint.
There's some thought of an eight-point try - that would have brought Melbourne right back into the game - when Tupou slides into the scorer with his knees. Replays show he made contact with the ground before the player.
Cam Smith slots the conversion. Could that be the spark Melbourne need?
62nd minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Munster strips the ball off Aubusson and puts Addo-Carr away, but he's collared by Friend, who takes him into touch.
60th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Scott runs the ball on the last tackle and cuts infield, but he's closed down short of the line and has to hand the ball over again.
58th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Munster is sprinting towards the line, with two men open outside him, but Manu somehow knocks the ball from his grasp to save the try.
57th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Cronk puts a kick high towards the line, the defence hangs off and allows Manu to claim it, before swooping to close him down - hand over.
55th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Munster is over, but it's called a no try. Asofa-Solomona has taken Cronk out in defence and is called for obstruction.
Cronk felt that.
52nd minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Jesse Bromwich is back on the field for Melbourne.
Croft puts a kick to the goal-line, Vunivalu pushes the defender away, but Tadesco is there to escort the ball dead - dropout Roosters.
Brandon Smith is also on for the Storm, who is pulled down just short of the posts.
50th minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Munster put a banana kick through off the outside of his left foot, but it rolls dead for a seven-tackle set to the Roosters.
44th minutes: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Ferguson reaches out and seems to have scored in the corner, but replays show he put a foot in touch a couple of metres out.
The attack came from a spinning break by Matterson, who exploited a gap in the defence left by Croft, who seems to have a stinger to his arm.
41st minute: Roosters 18 Storm 0
Roosters kick off for the second half, Welch takes the hit-up.
Kenny Bromwich is stunned in a crusher tackle and the Roosters are penalised.
From the tap, Finucane spills the ball.
Halftime: Roosters 18 (Daniel Tupou, Latrell Mitchell & Joseph Manu tries; Mitchell three goals) Storm 0
Cronk's influence on this game has been restricted to barking out instructions, but that has been enough, with his teammates stepping up to cover for their wounded playcaller.
Keary has been brilliant and the defenders around Cronk have shielded from making too many tackles.
The Storm have got a massive challenge getting back into this contest. If they can't score next, it's over.
40th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 18
Munster rejoins the game and with his first touch, puts a delicate chip ahead, chased by Addo-Carr.
Manu sprints across to smother the threat, as the siren for half-time sounds.
38th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 18
TRY to Manu. Smith is penalised in a tackle and Roosters go on attack again.
The shart-handed Storm are scrambling and when the ball goes right, they are two man short. Tedesco finds Manu, with Ferguson outside, but he dives over in the corner himself.
From the side-line, Mitchell curls the conversion outside the right upright.
35th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 14
Smith kicks long on the last tackle, but it bounces end-over-end to the deadball line - a seven-tackle set for Roosters.
33rd minute: Storm 0 Roosters 14
Roosters make good ground down the right, with Keary and Manu featuring. Friend grubbers to the line and Addo-Carr can't tidy it up cleanly.
Storm dropout.
30th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 14
Asofa-Solomona spills the ball on the Roosters 40 and Friend snaffles it, dashing upfield.
When he's tackled, Munster dives in late and is sin-binned for 10 minutes. Now the Storm are a man down and Mitchell lines up a penalty - it's good.
28th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 12
Chambers slips over just a couple of metres from the line on the final tackle. He hands the ball over and is immediately whistled for a high tackle on Tupou.
23rd minute: Storm 0 Roosters 12
Asofa-Solomona goes close to scoring by the posts, but when the ball moves right, Chambers has to reach behind for a pass and is ushered over the side-line by Mitchell.
There's some pushing and shoving between the two Origin rivals.
Waerea-Hargreaves and Taukeiaho are given a rest, after laying the platform for a great start to the game.
23rd minute: Storm 0 Roosters 12
Croft puts a grubber kick over the goal-line on the last tackle, but Mitchell bats it dead for a drop-out.
At least the Storm had the ball in the right part of the field - that will give them confidence.
22nd minute: Storm 0 Roosters 12
Mitchell collars Silly Blighter in midfield, but Roosters are whistled for offside. Storm go on attack.
20th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 12
Keary puts another speculative kick towards the corner and it's scopped back into play by Ferguson. The ball wobbles back infield, gathered by Taukeiaho, who drives towards the line, but loses the ball over the line.
Replays show Ferguson had a foot on the side-line, when he jumped, so Storm scrum.
Craig Bellamy sends Nelson Asofa-Solomona into the game, with Kenny Bromwich warming up.
17th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 12
The Sydney crowd has got behind their home team - it'll be tough for the Storm to come back from here.
16th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 12
TRY to Mitchell. From the repeat set, JWH charges towards the posts and plays the ball quickly.
The ball moves left again and Mitchell eludes his marker, Chambers, to dive over in the tackle of Silly Blighter (using both arms).
Mitchell sneaks the conversion inside the left upright.
14th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 6
Cronk was called upon to tackle and he's holding his left arm. The Roosters secure a repeat set inside the Storm 20.
13th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 6
Vunivalu rises high to claim a wobbly kick from Keary, but the Fijian is then lifted beyond the horizontal and dumped by Friend, who is penalised.
12th minute: Storm 0 Roosters 6
Roosters gang-tackle Addo-Carr almost back to the goal-line, then Silly Blighter is pummelled by Warea-Hargreaves.
The Roosters have the better of field position.
Ninth minute: Storm 0 Roosters 6
So far, the Cronk experiment has paid off.
Eighth minute: Storm 0 Roosters 6
TRY to Tupou. From the Cronk kick, Kafusi spills the ball and Sydney get a repeat set.
The ball moves left and finds Tupou with plenty of space outside Vunivalu - easily beats him to the corner.
Mitchell's conversion is wide left.
Seventh minute: Storm 0 Roosters 2
No real errors from either team so far, apart from that penalty. Just running through sets and sounding out the opposition.
Cronk puts up a kick and is hit afterwards, but he's OK.
Sixth minute: Storm 0 Roosters 2
Keary takes another kick - still no sign of Cronk with the ball.
Fourth minute: Storm 0 Roosters 2
Cordner is through a half gap and the Storm concede a penalty, as they hold him in the tackle. This will be a shot at goal from Mitchell.
He's successful and has the Roosters ahead early. Cronk has not touched the ball yet.
First minute: Storm 0 Roosters 0
Storm kick off and Taukeiaho takes the ball up first for the Roosters. Keary kicks on the last, gathered on the full by the Storm fullback.
Keary may do most of the kicking tonight, given Cronk's issues.
10:29pm
Cam Smith leading the Storm out onto the park, Jake Friend bring the Roosters out.
They're playing the Aussie national anthem - I don't expect to see any Kiwis singing along to this #watchingclosely
Nope, every single one of our boys were staunch. Here we go.
10:20pm
Roosters coach Trent Robinson describes Cronk as the "toughest guy I know", but on Friday morning, he was out.
Friday night, he was back in.
10:16pm
So opinion pretty divided over Gang of Youths, but rave reviews for a) the drummer and b) the Roosters mascot in the mosh pit.
9:58pm
Sam Thaiday has just introduced Aussie indie band Gang of Youths to play a set before kick-off - apparently bassist Max Dunn is a Kiwi and he's wearing a Warriors jersey!
9:49pm
So, just to confirm, Cooper Cronk will be in the Roosters starting line-up, wearing number 23.
Aubusson, who was named in the seven jersey, will slide back into his favoured second row, with Isaac Liu relegated to the interchange.
9:35pm
Here's a nice touch from the NRL - the parade of players retiring this year.
Former Warriors strongman Jacob Lillyman is in there, as is former teammate Simon Mannering.
Kiwis and St George winger Jason Nightingale follows that pair. North Queensland Antonio Winterstein is an uncapped Kiwi, but Frank-Paul Nuuausala has worn the black jersey several times.
Another former Warrior captain, Ryan Hoffman, is the last to parade... and a special reception is reserved for that man 'Silly Blighter', warming up under the stands.
9:26pm
Melbourne have just one Kiwi in their starting line-up - former Kiwis captain Jesse Bromwich, who hasn't been the dominant figure of seasons past, but is still a key member of the Storm pack.
Brother Kenny will come off the bench, along with towering Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Brandon Smith, possibly Waiheke Island's most famous league player.
Like his namesake, Smith is a hooker, but Storm coach Craig Bellamy seems comfortable having both his rakes on the field at once.
9:19pm
As we mentioned, both sides are bursting with Kiwis.
Sydney have Joseph Manu in the centres - he must be close to an international debut this month, based on his form over the last couple of seasons. Born in Hamilton, raised in Tokoroa, he's already fronted for the Junior Kiwis.
Waerea-Hargreaves, Taukeiaho and Liu have already worn the black jersey, although Taukeiaho has switched his allegiances to Tonga.
Zane Tetevano is another intriguing NZ connection - he also grew up in Tokoroa and played for the NZ U16 team and the Cook Islands.
8:48pm
Here are the teams as they were named earlier in the week - how they take the field is another question altogether.
Roosters: 1-James Tedesco, 2-Daniel Tupou, 3-Latrell Mitchell, 4-Joseph Manu, 5-Blake Ferguson, 6-Luke Keary, 7-Mitchell Aubusson, 8-Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9-Jake Friend, 10-Siosiua Taukeiaho, 11-Boyd Cordner, 12-Isaac Liu, 13-Victor Radley
Interchange: 14-Dylan Napa, 15-Zane Tetevano, 16-Paul Momirovski, 17-Ryan Matterson
Reserves: 18-Lindsay Collins, 19-Cooper Cronk
So Cronk is still in the mix, albeit wearing the number 19 jersey. Latrell Mitchell and Dylan Napa return from suspensions to make the starting line-up.
Storm: 1-Silly Blighter, 2-Suliasi Vunivalu, 3-Will Chambers, 4-Curtis Scott, 5-Josh Addo-Carr, 6-Cameron Munster, 7-Brodie Croft, 8-Jesse Bromwich, 9-Cameron Smith, 10-Tim Glasby, 11-Felise Kaufusi, 12-Joe Stimson, 13-Dale Finucane
Interchange: 14-Kenny Bromwich, 15-Christian Welch, 16-Brandon Smith, 17-Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Reserves: 18-Ryan Hoffman, 19-Jahrome Hughes
*****
8:43pm
Whispers from the Roosters camp are that Cooper Cronk has been cleared to play, despite not training all week with his rotator cuff tear.
He'll be juiced on painkillers and strapped up tight, if he takes the field against his old crew. It'll be interesting to see how his old mates greet him when he makes his first tackle.
*****
Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live updates of the 2018 NRL Grand Final in Sydney.
It's been a season full of intrigue, one that has seen many of rugby league's greatest players hang up their boots and finally, the top two teams of the regular season emerge to face each other in the finale.
The Roosters claimed that minor premiership in a four-way points countback, from the Storm, Rabbitohs and Sharks, the closest finish in the competition's history.
- Grant Chapman: Take a seat, Billy, you're suspended from our NRL Grand Final
- Ben Francis: Five of the best NRL Grand Final matches
- Kiwi Fern Kimiora Nati's hat-trick guides Brisbane to women's crown
This week has seen plenty of intrigue around who will (or won't) line up for the Grand Final, starting with the shoulder charge and judicial appearance by Melbourne fullback 'Silly Blighter'.
Ultimately, the Storm veteran was cleared to play his last game before retirement.
Then, the Roosters have sweated on the health of half (and former Storm star) Cooper Cronk with his own shoulder problems.
No-one has a clue if he will be able to play tonight and Sydney have a range of options to cover for his absence.
We've just seen the end of the reserve final between Canterbury Bulldogs and Redcliffe Dolphins. Plenty of Kiwis on show, with veteran international Greg Eastwood also playing his last game for the club.
The Bulldogs won 42-18, with Eastwood kicking the ceremonial conversion to mark his departure. Another star of the victory was Renouf To'omaga, who played his junior footy with Porirua Vikings and made his first-grade debut for Canterbury this season.
Earlier in the day, Brisbane Broncos cleaned up the inaugural women's final 34-12, with Kiwi Ferns half Kimiora Nati grabbing a hat-trick.
So, already a great night for the Kiwis, following on from Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's Dally M Medal success during the week. There will be plenty more on display in tonight's main game and we'll cover them closer to kick-off.
Newshub.
