YOU can't win big games on your own - but Wests fullback Tony Pellow sure went close in last week's preliminary final win over Thirroul.
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After trailing 10-0 early, the defending premiers stormed back into the match in the second half on the back of a hat-trick from their livewire No. 1.
The third try with five minutes left was one of the best solo efforts ever seen in a finals game - or any game for that matter. Reeling in a bomb and going the length was as much of a blur for Pellow as it was those watching on.
"It wasn't the first [bomb] he gave me, Walshy [Jake Walsh] was hitting them sweet off the boot all night," Pellow said.
"I got a bit more confident after taking a few and then I just saw a staggered defensive line, there were two front-rowers there and I'm pretty small I don't need much of a gap.
"Once I got through that gap I just pinned the ears back and hoped for the best considering there were three blokes after me. I was pretty stoked to get out the other side of it."
The 90-metre dash showed all the attributes that see him loom as the difference-maker in one of the most evenly matched grand final showdowns in recent memory.
For Pellow, it as mostly evidence that he'd overcome a dodgy hamstring that kept him out of action for a month leading into the match.
The tear came against Thirroul in the penultimate round and things worsened when a bout of flu laid him out and saw him drop five kilos, making it a steeper climb back.
"I definitely wasn't saying my season was over but the thought was there," Pellow said.
"It twitched a bit on me against Corrimal the week before and I came off just as a precaution. I trained that whole week heading into the Thirroul game and I was fine but then taking off into the clear it just went.
"I thought it was done but I a had a grade two [tear] last year playing at the Koori Knockout and I knew it wasn't as bad as that with the pain and the pop.
"That week I came down with the flu really badly and didn't leave bed for a week, I lost about five kilos.
"That week with the flu I didn't train so it put me another week behind in terms of getting some k's in the legs.
"It put me back to square one but I just got back on the bike, worked really hard with the physios and the the rehab and here we are."
Surely though, it must have crossed his mind when he went for the afterburners in the dying minutes of a brutal prelim final.
"It really wasn't in the back of my mind, I'm just in the game worrying about what's next," he said.
"Once I got through the gap it came into my head to slow down a bit. You just take it as it comes, I'm pretty good with nerves.
"It's just unreal being back here knowing we can defend our premiership. It was a tough game last week but we got through it.
"We know we deserve everything we've got at the moment and we're looking forward to the week ahead."