Some players wait many years for the opportunity to feature on the NRL Grand Final stage… others, including some of the game’s greats, never get the chance at all.
At the other end of the spectrum, Grand Final history is littered with rookies and fortunate second-stringers who have lined up on the biggest day of the rugby league calendar while the ink is barely dry on their first contract.
As Melbourne and Penrith prepare to do battle in an epic 2024 decider, Storm centre Jack Howarth is eyeing off just his 17th NRL appearance, and Panthers counterpart and ex-Bulldog Paul Alamoti only his 34th after making his club debut for the three-time champs in Round 7.
Meanwhile, unheralded 25-year-old forward Lazarus Vaalepu has come from the clouds to claim in a spot in the Storm’s 17 – in what will be his ninth NRL game – following Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s much-publicised suspension.
The trio join the pantheon of celebrated grand final bolters.
Greg Norgard – South Sydney (1967)
Norgard arrived at Souths from Newcastle in 1967, making five first grade appearances during the regular season before featuring in the club’s reserve grade grand final loss.
The young centre/five-eighth sat on the bench for the first-grade grand final as Souths’ reserve back, entering the fray after winger Michael Cleary left the field injured.
Following a backline reshuffle, Norgard slotted in at pivot and helped the Rabbitohs to a gripping 12-10 win over Canterbury.
He stayed at the club for a further five seasons but made just 21 appearances in the top grade altogether, including only one further finals match – again as a replacement.
Peter Boulton – Balmain (1969)
Balmain’s 1969 grand final boilover defeat of South Sydney was achieved with a hooker making his first start in the top grade.
John Crawford replaced Norm Miller as rake in the Tigers’ side for the preliminary final showdown against Manly, with Boulton making his debut off the bench.
The Grafton product was elevated to the starting side for the grand final and produced a fine display opposite Test hooker Elwyn Walters as the Tigers downed raging hot favourites the Rabbitohs 11-2.
Boulton represented NSW Colts against Great Britain in 1970 and went on to play 95 first grade games during a lean period for the Tigers, departing at the end of 1975.
John Rheinberger – Eastern Suburbs (1975)
Rheinberger was drafted into Eastern Suburbs’ line-up for the 1975 grand final after Test centre Mark Harris suffered a broken leg in the preliminary final.
The unknown 21-year-old played his part in the record-breaking 38-0 defeat of St George – just his second first-grade appearance.
With a shoulder injury stunting his progress the following season, Rheinberger never featured in the top flight again but went on to become an indoor cricket star.
Steve Halliwell – Parramatta (1982)
England-born Halliwell, whose father Frank played for Wigan, immigrated to Australia as an infant and represented Australia in Rugby Union at schoolboy level.
He played a solitary game for St George in 1981 before linking with Parramatta the following season.
Halliwell’s initial appearance for the Eels was as a replacement in the 33-0 Preliminary Final drubbing of Easts, and he retained a bench spot for their Grand Final victory over Manly a week later – his third first grade game.
He scored two tries against Newtown in the opening round of 1983, but that was to be his last appearance for Parramatta.
Returning to England, Halliwell enjoyed stints with Leigh and St Helens, before playing two games for the fledgling Gold Coast-Tweed Giants in ’1988.
Matthew Callinan – Canterbury (1985)
Tyro fullback/winger Matthew Callinan made his first-grade debut off the bench for defending premiers Canterbury in the penultimate round of the 1985 regular season.
After starting the finals series in reserve grade, he scored the Bulldogs’ only try as a replacement in their major semi loss to St George three weeks later and crossed for a memorable double on the wing as they routed archrivals Parramatta 26-0 in the Preliminary Final.
Callinan featured on the flank in the club’s dour 7-6 Grand Final defeat of the Dragons – just his fifth appearance in the top flight.
He began 1986 as a first-choice winger and scored an early-season hat-trick but was replaced by Peter Mortimer after six rounds and never played first grade again.
Chris Guider – St George (1985)
Guider created history in 1985 as St George qualified for grand finals in all three grades, despite slipping down the pecking order to third-string hooker at the club.
The pint-sized rake played 15 first-grade games in ’84, but Phil Ritchie and Tony Townsend were preferred the following season.
Nevertheless, Guider helped the Dragons’ Under-23s to victory in their Grand Final, before coming off the bench in the reserve grade side’s decider success.
Guider was then used as a replacement as the Saints went down 7-6 to Canterbury in the First-Grade Grand Final – just his second appearance in the top flight that season and only the 17th of his career.
Guider captained the slumping Saints in 1986, before quitting the game to dedicate his time to the Church of Scientology, a faith he publicly renounced in 2011.
His achievement in playing grand finals in all three grades on the same day in unique in the code’s history.
Tim Brasher – Balmain (1989)
One of the most celebrated rookie-season success stories of all time, 18-year-old Brasher was still at high school when Warren Ryan blooded him in the Balmain side.
Eventually making his first run-on appearance in Round 9, he was a sensation in the centres and played his 20th first-grade game in perhaps the greatest Grand Final of them all, the Tigers’ heartbreaking 19-14 extra-time defeat to the Raiders.
Remarkably, despite representing NSW in 21 Origins and Australia in 16 Tests, Brasher would feature in just one more finals match – in 1990 – as he plugged away with battlers Balmain, Souths and North Queensland before retiring in 2002.
Nigel Gaffey – Canberra (1990)
Backrower Gaffey made his first-grade debut for Canberra in 1989 with a solitary appearance off the bench, and forced his way back into the Raiders’ squad in round 18 of 1990.
The 20-year-old capitalised on Test lock Bradley Clyde’s season-ending injury to forge a starting spot on the eve of the finals, winning a premiership medal in just his ninth top-grade game courtesy of Canberra’s 18-14 defeat of Penrith in the grand final.
The versatile Gaffey represented Country Origin in 1993 and retired in 2000 with 177 appearances to his credit following stints with Eastern Suburbs, South Queensland and Penrith, but a pair of preliminary finals with the Roosters was as close as he got to another decider.
John Plath – Brisbane (1992)
Uber-utility John Plath featured in four grand final victories for Brisbane, but his first-grade career was only just gathering momentum when he came off the bench in the club’s inaugural triumph.
After making just three appearances in 1990-91, the specialist half secured an interchange spot in the closing rounds of ’92 and took the field during the Broncos’ 28-8 defeat of St George in the decider – his 10th game in the top grade.
Plath came off the bench in subsequent Grand Final wins in 1993 and ’97-98 among 149 appearances for the club.
Adam MacDougall – Newcastle (1997)
A breakout star of Newcastle’s euphoric 1997 ARL Grand Final win over Manly, MacDougall was playing just his 17th first-grade game in the last-minute triumph.
The powerful three-quarter played six games for the Roosters in 1995 before resurfacing at the Knights in the opening round of 1997.
Injury sidelined him for three months but ‘Mad Dog’ returned just before the finals and played a key role in the Knights’ charge to glory.
MacDougall went on to win another Grand Final with Newcastle in 2001, represent NSW and Australia 11 times each, and play 195 games in an injury-punctuated career that wound up in 2011.
David Thompson – Canterbury (1998)
Unheralded forward Thompson debuted for the Bulldogs in Round 17 of 1998, scoring three tries in his first four games as an interchange.
The 20-year-old was part of the ninth-placed team’s iconic sudden-death finals run and made just his 11th appearance in the Bulldogs’ 38-12 Grand Final loss to the Broncos.
Thompson’s NRL career trucked along in unassuming fashion, playing only seven more games in three seasons for the Bulldogs before embarking on stints with the Cowboys and Rabbitohs.
Daniel Abraham – Newcastle (2001)
Hardworking Newcastle back-rower Abraham collected a premiership ring in just his 14th first-grade appearance.
The Macquarie United junior debuted for the Knights as a 19-year-old in 2000 but was unable to forge a permanent position.
Abraham played just three NRL games in the first six months of the 2001 season, but he featured in the Knights’ last three regular season matches and came off the bench in the preliminary final defeat of Cronulla to snag an interchange spot for the grand final showdown with Parramatta,
After playing his role in Newcastle’s 30-24 upset victory, the goalkicking forward went on to make 100 NRL appearances during an injury-plagued tenure with Newcastle and represented Country Origin in 2003-04, before ending his NRL career with a season for North Queensland in 2008.
Sonny Bill Williams – Bulldogs (2004)
An eighteen-year-old Williams was clearly destined for superstardom after dismantling Parramatta on NRL debut in the opening round of 2004, but the destructive Bulldogs centre/back-rower’s rookie season was punctuated by injury.
SBW spent more than three months on the sidelines at one stage but returned during the closing rounds and came off the bench in the Bulldogs’ 16-13 Grand Final victory over the Roosters – just his 15th top-grade game.
Williams would later win a premiership with the Roosters in 2013, in between decorated All Blacks stints.
Russell Aitken – Melbourne (2008)
A fringe NRL player after debuting as an 18-year-old for Cronulla in 2003, Russell Aitken was thrust into the hot-seat following Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith’s controversial suspension during the 2008 finals series.
The versatile Aitken had made seven appearances at five-eighth, hooker and centre during the regular season before being handed the No.9 jumper for the preliminary final clash with his former club.
Melbourne swept aside the Sharks 28-0 with Aitken performing adequately at dummy-half, but the Storm missed Smith’s influence as they crashed to a record 40-0 loss to Manly in the grand final.
The decider was Aitken’s 17th and last first grade appearance – he was released by Melbourne during the off-season and had subsequent stints in France with AS Carcassonne, in England with Gateshead, and in the Illawarra competition with Helensburgh.
Dane Nielsen – Melbourne (2009)
Playing just one NRL game for Cronulla in 2007 and Melbourne in 2008, Nielsen capitalised on an injury to Anthony Quinn and teenager Joe Tomane’s form slump to forge a backline spot with the Storm late in 2009.
The Mackay product featured on the wing as the Storm defeated the Eels 23-16 in the grand final, only his 12th NRL game.
Nielsen went on to represent Queensland and played in Melbourne’s 2012 grand final success before his career stalled with stints at the Warriors, Bradford, St George Illawarra and Souths.
Daniel Mortimer and Jeff Robson – Parramatta (2009)
Few teams have fielded a greener halves combination in a grand final than Parramatta in 2009.
Late-blooming Robson had managed just six NRL games for Manly from 2004-08 but grabbed his opportunity as the Eels’ No.7, while rookie Mortimer debuted as his halves partner in Round 12 after attempts to utilise Jarryd Hayne and Feleti Mateo at five-eighth were aborted.
Proving an excellent, understated foil to Dally M-winning fullback Hayne’s brilliance, Robson and Mortimer made their 28th and 18th first-grade appearances, respectively, in the grand final defeat to the Storm.
Joey Leilua – Sydney Roosters (2010)
18-year-old Leilua earned an NRL debut with Brian Smith’s Roosters in Round 12 of the 2010 season, bouncing around the team sheet from the interchange, to wing, centre and second-row.
Leilua missed the Qualifying Final epic against the Tigers and came off the pine in the semi against the Panthers a week later, before finding himself on the wing for the Preliminary Final and Grand Final.
The 17-game rookie was denied a crucial first-half try by a forward pass call as the Roosters crashed 32-8 to the Dragons in the Grand Final.
Leilua would later feature in the 2019 Grand Final for Canberra.
Shaun Johnson and Elijah Taylor – Warriors (2011)
Two stars of the Warriors’ inaugural 2010 NYC-winning team played prominent roles as the club surged into the NRL Grand Final just 12 months later.
Back-rower Taylor debuted in Round 4 and halfback Johnson in Round 13, making their 21st and 16th NRL appearances, respectively, in the grand final against Manly.
The pair combined for a try in the Warriors’ second-half rally – Taylor scoring from a Johnson pass – but the Sea Eagles ultimately ran away with a 24-10 win.
Taylor would link with Penrith in 2014, while Johnson became a Warriors icon…but neither would line up in another grand final.
Apisai Korisau – South Sydney & Moses Mbye – Canterbury (2014)
The build-up to the 2014 Grand Final was dominated by the fates that befell the long-serving hookers from both clubs.
Bulldogs skipper Michael Ennis was ruled out through injury ahead of what would have been his last match for the club before joining Cronulla, while the NRL judiciary rubbed Issac Luke out for a dangerous throw.
In came Moses Mbye for Canterbury and Apisai Koroisau for Souths, both in the maiden season of first grade with just eight and 13 games in the top flight to their names respectively.
Both performed admirably in the key dummy-half role, Koroisau collecting a winner’s ring before moving to Penrith (where he later returned to win Grand Finals in 2021-22) and then Manly, while Mbye eventually became entrenched in the halves for Canterbury.
Alex Johnston – South Sydney (2014)
Rabbitohs fans waited 41 years for their premiership drought to end, but quicksilver winger Johnston celebrated in the 2014 triumph in just his 18th NRL game.
The 19-year-old only debuted in Round 8 of that season but ultimately kept luckless club legend Nathan Merritt out of the Souths line-up.
Johnston’s opener in the 30-6 Grand Final win over Canterbury was his 21st try of a dream rookie season.
Sam Verrills – Sydney Roosters (2019)
Avalon junior Verrills made his NRL debut off the bench for the defending premiers in Round 6 of 2019, but he eventually cemented the No.9 jersey in late-July with veteran Jake Friend sidelined long-term and Victor Radley reverting to lock.
Friend returned for the Grand Final – his first appearance in more than two months – but Verrills was retained in the starting side for his 14th top-grade game and scored the opening try of the Roosters’ thrilling 14-8 victory over the Raiders.