How Illawarra junior made the most of Dragons NRL finals faliure

They say rugby league is a funny game, given it’s reliance on drama, scandal, self-interest and self-inflicted wounds.

As Canterbury – who knocked them out of the final round – search for a new coach, Dragons players are packing their bags for end-of-season holidays, if they haven’t left already.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys, only handed a finals ticket at the last minute, have made three trips to Sydney in as many weeks in search of another NRL premiership. 

And there could be one more yet, if they can overcome the Roosters on Saturday night.

The Dragons were an enigma this season, early front-runners, representative period also-rans, then they failed in the mad scramble to save their season.

Their form was so mixed, it’s hard to say they could have landed a blow in finals anyway, let along launch a potential fairytale premiership, like the Cowboys are chasing.

But North Queensland wouldn’t be there at all if the Dragons had beaten Canterbury in the final round.

So directionless and disappointing were the Dogs for most of the season, it resulted in Des Hasler’s hastily and badly-managed exit from the club. And so the Cowboys are already the big winners from that Sunday when the Dragons failed to breath fire.

The official NRL website ran a cracking piece this week on Windang and Port Kembla junior Kane Linnett. 

Linnett is closing in on 200 career NRL games, which would make him one of the great Illawarra products of all time, despite rarely receiving the recognition. 

He had his nervous moments in the 2015 decider, which led to Johnathan Thurston’s glorious field goal moment, having hit the upright when trying to win the premiership with a conversion beforehand. 

Yet here he was, having a beer with his dad and chasing barramundi more than 2000 kilometres from Sydney, when the radio started to tell him the season wasn’t over yet. 

Now Linnett has a second chance, when the Dragons fumbled their first.