Gorden Tallis: Grand finalists Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles set new benchmark New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney confirms Sonny Bill Williams has made himself unavailable for the Rugby League World Cup. THERE were 13 men who went to bed with a headache on Sunday night - the coaches who have to devise ways to beat the two sides who gave us one of the greatest of all grand finals. A fourteenth, whoever is appointed coach of Parramatta, will soon also have to consider that as well as everything else on his plate at the Eels. Coaches will be looking at that game and saying: "How do we get to that level?" What we saw in the grand final and also in the semi-final between the Roosters and Sea Eagles was a whole new level in terms of skills and the sustained intensity of defence. The NRL would love the next best six or eight teams to lift to the level of the grand finalists. We are a result-driven business and everyone will be chasing the Roosters, like they previously chased the Storm and their playing style. The Roosters-Manly matches were tough and brutal, but not so subdued in playing style because the collisions took so much out of the players. The grand final was a highly skilful game. The teams also played with a mental toughness reminiscent of football how it used to be. We let the sports scientists take over for a while, with GPS units on players, players allowed to run no more than 4000m a day and needing to have ice baths. The grand final lived up to every expectation. With all the headlines in Australian sport this year, it was a fantastic note on which to end the rugby league season. And while I've never been a big one for entertainment before a match, I thought Jessica Mauboy has been great for our game all year and Ricky Martin went over well. Where some teams flagged towards the end, the Bondi Junction boys kept improving and it looked like they enjoyed their season. The Roosters halves, James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce, had been bagged for their kicking game since their losing Origin series for NSW, not getting enough repeat sets, for one thing. But it improved through the season and was outstanding in the biggest game of all. Sonny Bill Williams had Kieran Foran go at him early. As a champion he apologised to teammates at halftime and promised them he would play a lot better in the second half. It was a pretty courageous statement. He put himself out there. Guys often think it, but if they say it out loud and can't back it up, they look worse. Maybe SBW sensed some of his mates were a bit shell-shocked and, as their spiritual leader, wanted the younger players to not worry about how he was going. With 40 minutes left in the season, he was not thinking of failure. DALY Cherry-Evans was the best player on the field. He warranted the Clive Churchill Medal, even if on the losing side. It wouldn't have worried me if Maloney had got the award. He was probably the best Rooster, just because Sonny Bill had a down first half before his couple of decisive plays. Glenn Stewart and Brett Stewart were under-par. I thought Cherry-Evans was especially good considering that. For a halfback to run 80m in a grand final is something else. I don't believe the Churchill Medallist needs to come from the winning side. The last grand final I played, in 2000, Roosters fullback Luke Phillips was the best player on the field, with all his try-saving tackles, and didn't get the award. Royce Simmons says Brad Clyde still hasn't mailed him the medal for the 1991 grand final when Royce scored two tries in a winning Penrith side. The Broncos say Kevin Walters was the best player by far when Brad Mackay won from a losing Dragons side in 1993.