George Watt

Just over 10 years earlier I was at the first Ashes test played at Wembley. Game 1 played mid-week under lights before just under 14,000. We were hammered by the likes of Gasnier and Langlands.

Capacity of the ground is only around 25,500 which would be a major downside compared to OT.

Taking the kick for touch and setting up to try for a field goal in the middle of the count would at least have prevented Saints from having enough time to respond if the attempt had failed. Hardaker in taking the penalty had to kick the ball dead if he missed and his previous attempt for the conversion that failed to clear the bar did not inspire confidence. French appeared to be completely unaware of the danger of the situation when the ball bounced in the in goal area in the final seconds and just failed to react quickly enough. I tipped the Saints by 1-6 incidentally! Finally I wonder where the game would rank in a list of the best Grand Finals.

Was at Wembley to witness that. Under current concussion rules he would not have made it to half time and had to leave the field injured in the last quarter of the match. Award was unanimous and rewarded sheer guts and skill under extreme adversity.

One reason why 2 refs were introduced was due to a study where heart monitors were worn and results showed that with the speeding up of the game a single ref in the NRL was showing extreme heart rates particularly in warm conditions.Hence a safety issue for refs which has somewhat been lost in the current debate. As mentioned the PTB area has gone backwards with only one referee although as has been pointed out many times the women's game manages to adhere to the PTB rule with only 1 ref and almost 100% compliance. No scrums for NRL as I prefer the current SL model. 6 again rule is far too inconsistent from game to game and ref to ref. Captains challenge is far too popular in the NRL to be dropped.

You have summed the game up well. I believe the QLD coaching staff which included Meninga, Henry (and Alfie) had too many counters to the plans of Fittler, Buderus and Alexander. Also selecting 4 forwards on the NSW bench turned out badly once a key back was injured. Regarding the PTB I recall a set by QLD early on when in 5 tackles none of players including Tino attempted to play the ball with the foot.

I predicted a win to NSW 2-1 believing it would be be all over in Sydney 2-0 and a win to QLD in Brisbane at Suncorp. I was there last night to see what QLD usually do in deciders in Brisbane. As a QLD supporter living in NSW I was so pleased to watch a side that was purportedly the worst in 40 years triumph and put egg on pundit's and journalist's faces here who thought they could predict SOO outcomes with such certainty. The atmosphere at the ground was electric and although I have been in bigger crowds there, the belief before and during the game was that QLD would prevail. Moving on, NSW and their admirers will lick their wounds and prepare for the 2021 series whenever that is.

The word effort/attempt should be removed completely to avoid all ambiguity, with the rule rigidly enforced that the ball MUST be played back using the foot after being placed on the ground. If you wish to see how easy it is for players to follow the PTB rules to the letter then have a look at yesterdays SOO women's match, refereed by an elite NRL female referee.

Now been upgraded to full capacity(52000) by Qld Government. I will be there.

Was positioned on the famous 'Hill' with my wife for both games where thousands stood. At the final whistle I was jumping around and celebrating wildly in the midst of Aus fans and my wife wanted me quickly away from that situation. Don't recollect any mass cheering but could have occurred in various seated areas. Interestingly my wife took out Aus. nationality a few years later and supported everything Aussie thereafter except when England/Gt Britain played Aus. She had a cousin back in England who was on Barrow's books back in the 50's who was somewhat of a father figure when she was growing up,(her dad was killed in the war before she was born) so she remained loyal to his love of RL.

The NRL really sorted the PTB area out a couple of seasons ago with insistence on the rules and the second referee around. The new 6 again rule and the 2nd ref removal has brought the SL style in with the refs acceptance.

I arrived in Aus. just after the 1968 GF win by Souths and Kevin had already been superseded at Fullback by the legendary Eric Simms. First saw Watson play in Brisbane in the first match of the 1970 Ashes series. Cliff took on the whole of the Aussie pack demonstrating the art of the 'Liverpool Kiss'. He won the fight but the Aussies hammered us. Redemption occurred when we won the following 2 matches in Sydney and Cliff so wound up big Artie Beetson that in match 3 Beetson was sent off.

I remember him as a No 7, only playing in the 80's for a couple of seasons. In his first full match he started at No 7 when Souths played Cronulla at home and clocked up nearly 50 points and he scored 3 tries. I had changed my supporting allegiance to Cronulla when we moved from Coogee to live near Cronulla in the early 70's, coincident with the arrival of Tommy Bishop and Cliff Watson. Went to all home games and selected away ones including Souths. That's all I recall about George.

When we arrived in Sydney in 1968 my uncle and cousin were passionate Souths fans and I followed suit. We had arrived from South Africa and my wife had good friends there so went for a team with a SA connection. Len Killeen was at Balmain Tigers so she followed them. In 1969 the two teams met in the GF and the Tigers prevailed for a shock win mostly engineered by ex Wigan player Dave Bolton.

Will be there for this match. Have been to all SOO matches played in NSW and QLD since 1982. Although living in NSW for over 50 years I have always supported Queensland. Believe the series will be tied up after this match and look forward to a decider in Queensland.