Sydney Roosters defeat Manly Sea Eagles 26-18 to win epic NRL Grand Final THE Gatorade shower went to Trent Robinson on Sunday night. It came after two flashes of Sonny Bill Williams brilliance underlined what he means to the Roosters, to the NRL, and what a loss he will be when he almost certainly leaves the NRL to return to rugby union. The Roosters are the NRL premiers, underlining the great success stories of Robinson, the Dally M Coach of the Year, and Williams' return to rugby league, and the resurrection of one of the great proud clubs in the game. Anthony Minichiello celebrates. There was a fear ANZ Stadium would fail to be a sellout after South Sydney were eliminated last week. In their hope the Rabbitohs would qualify for their first grand final in 42 years Souths fans swamped the box office weeks ago, only to be met with disappointment. When they were eliminated a week ago Souths fans were left not just with the pain of their exit, but with the bitter after taste that there were no two teams playing the Grand Final that Rabbitohs fans like less. Michael Jennings scores a freak try for the Roosters. In the end, 81,491 turned up to watch one of the great grand finals, where the Roosters twice came from behind to win. "We know we're a club that's seen as quite a wealthy club, seen as bit of high flyers, but we have been built on a really hard working foundation," Robinson said. That's our team. That's the Roosters. There was a penalty try and another from a forward pass, enough lesser errors to provide a sprinkle of controversy and eternal argument, the Clive Churchill Medal winner was Daly Cherry-Evans, from the losing side, and then there were Williams' twin pieces of magic. The first ended directly in a try to Shaun Kenny-Dowall to put the Roosters ahead while the second, a 30m burst upfield, indirectly led to one of those freakish efforts that is fast becoming the hallmark of NRL football. This time, Michael Jennings chased a loose ball and dived between Brett Stewart and David Williams to gather in the loose ball and touch down and give the Roosters the 26-18 final scoreline. With just six minutes left, the premiership was sealed. It was a remarkable show of grit and composure from the Roosters. They went into the game as reigning minor premiers and, better than that, statistically the best in the NRL. In attack and defence. But they are just numbers, of course. Jamie Lyon is tackled without the ball by Mitchell Aubusson, resulting in a Manly penalty try. What you cannot measure are intangibles. How do you measure courage? Or the steel inside the bones? Whoever came up with a way to measure experience? Aidan Guerra scores for the Roosters. The Sea Eagles ran into the game with 11 survivors from their 2011 premiership. With seven from their 2008 premiership. The Roosters were put together in a year, and not expected to seriously challenge for several more. Manly put all that experience to good use in the opening 20 minutes with a blitzkrieg that shocked the minor premiers, and then another shock start to the second half that took the game away. "We ran away from the fight a bit in the first 20," Robinson said. Whereas we've always taken the fight to other teams. A few guys got off track and we clawed our way back in. Manly showed it was nothing less than a team that knew what it took to get the job done. Week after week Sea Eagles warred through this finals series, tired and injured, and through nothing but their own sheer will found a way to overcome. Three minutes into the second stanza Cherry-Evans found space and as the defence closed he kicked ahead, with Jamie Lyon and Foran in chase. Lyon looked set to score when Mitch Aubusson tackled him from behind, denied what looked certain - or could be argued wasn't certain - to be a try. Referee Shayne Hayne asked the video referee to check for a penalty try, and the green light came on. It was the first penalty try since Craig Smith was knocked out in the process of scoring by Jamie Ainscough in the 1999 decider, when Melbourne beat St George Illawarra. It all held together until the final 20 minutes, when Manly led 18-8 and the Roosters faced their moment. "It got to 18-8 and we had a choice there," Robinson said, saying later, "We weren't going to get a try before we worked out how to stay calm and get back on track." It was simple, really. With skipper Anthony Minichiello whispering calm words in their ears, the Roosters cut out the gravity and reward at stake and focused on their processes. It sounds so boring, but it was all the difference. Normally, just a quick look over the formguide would have shown the Sea Eagles would have had what was an unassailable lead, given the strength of their defence. As was pointed out more than once, the Sea Eagles had conceded only two tries their previous two games, and both came from kicks. In other words, their opponents had to go over them because they couldn't go through them. "They finished way too strong for us," coach Geoff Toovey said. With the fresher legs, though, the Roosters started punching holes in them, showing the quality of their football side. Far from being ruffled by Manly's early intent, the Roosters showed their cool nerve and, rather than forcing their game, went back to their structures and applied themselves. And so back they came, showing they had some intangibles themselves. SYDNEY ROOSTERS 26 (A Guerra M Jennings S Kenny-Dowall D Tupou tries J Maloney 5 goals) bt MANLY 18 (J Lyon S Matai J Taufua tries J Lyon 3 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Ben Cummins. Crowd: 81,491. THERE was controversy, there were spectacular tries and in the end there was only one winner as the Roosters stormed back from a 10-point deficit to beat the Manly Sea Eagles 26-18 in an epic NRL Grand Final. 74th minute - Freak Jennings try puts Roosters up by eight MICHAEL Jennings has flown through with blistering pace to score on the end of a James Maloney grubber that looked for all money like it would go dead. Maloney adds the crucial extras. Roosters 26 Manly 18 62nd minute - Roosters turn on the razzle-dazzle THE Sydney Roosters have hit the front with a controversial try of their own, which involved a possible forward pass. Sonny Bill Williams put James Maloney into a hole and, after an entertaining interchange of passes, the ball ended up in the hands of Shaun Kenny-Dowall who streaked to the line. Maloney narrowly converts to put the Chooks in front. Roosters 20 Sea Eagles 18 56th minute - Roosters hit back AIDAN Guerra runs into the hole close to the line for the easiest of Roosters tries. Roosters 14 Sea Eagles 18 50th minute - Matai extends Sea Eagles' lead MANLY have gone in again, this time through Steve Matai on the left-hand side to open up a handy second-half lead. Roosters 8 Sea Eagles 18 Roosters 8 Sea Eagles 12 Sonny Bill Williams has had a particularly poor game, making a number of uncharacteristic errors. Sonny Bill Williams has dropped a lot of ball.