the roosters won the last grand final in 2004.
the roosters won the last grand final in 2004.
when did the roosters win the last grand final?
2004
once again the roosters were not idle in the transfer market, with exciting young fullback james tedesco lured to bondi, and legendary queensland halfback cooper cronk replacing mitchell pearce for 2018. these signings lead most observers to believe that anything less than a grand final triumph would be a failure for the club in 2018. after a slow start to the season, the tri-colours won 12 of their last 16 matches, finishing off the regular season with a 44-10 thrashing of the parramatta eels to win the minor premiership. cronk showed his class as the roosters won a bruising contest against the sharks in week one of the finals which set up a juicy preliminary finals match up against rivals south sydney. in the last ever sports match at the sydney football stadium, the roosters triumphed over their nemesis 12-4, with luke keary starring against his former club, playing the role of both halves after cooper cronk suffered a broken scapula early in the match. the roosters were in another grand final, this time against defending premiers the melbourne storm. for the roosters, the buildup focussed on whether star recruit cronk would be fit enough to play, with most in the media believing that the storm would be too good for the roosters in the final and that cronk was no chance of playing. they were proven wrong on both counts. cooper cronk played 78 minutes, with sydney winning 21-6 to claim their 14th premiership. luke keary was awarded the clive churchill medal thanks to a sublime performance. the victory gave coach trent robinson his second premiership, with players daniel tupou, mitchell aubusson, boyd cordner, jared waerea-hargreaves and jake friend all winning their second premiership for the club.
history of the sydney roosters
after scoring 16 tries during the 2002 nrl season, minichiello played on the wing for the roosters in their 2002 nrl grand final win over the new zealand warriors. he was also part of the successful roosters team that took out the 2003 world club challenge against 2002 super league champions, st. helens. with mini playing fullback, the roosters easily accounted for saints 38–0 at the reebok stadium in bolton, england in front of 19,807 fans. for the first three seasons of his career mini played on the wing for the roosters, but the retirement of luke phillips following the 2002 nrl grand final prompted then-roosters coach ricky stuart to move minichiello to . his move to fullback coincided with some of the roosters' best football for the early part of the new millennium. it also saw him become an almost automatic selection for both nsw and australia for the next few seasons. with the help of the recently new zealand former warriors fullback and newly appointed roosters premier league coach ivan cleary, mini would become a vital part of the roosters attack. his great performance in his new position soon paid off with selection for city in the 2003 city vs country origin match and for new south wales in the 2003 state of origin series, and went on to play in his 100th nrl game for the roosters in the first preliminary final of the 2003 nrl finals series. he was declared man of the match in the roosters 28–18 victory over the bulldogs. the roosters subsequently lost the 2003 nrl grand final to the penrith panthers, in which minichiello played at fullback. minichiello ran 4,571 metres with the ball in 2003, more than any other player in the competition. after that he was selected to go on the successful 2003 kangaroo tour in which australia defeated their oldest rivals great britain 3–0 to retain the ashes. mini played on the wing for the kangaroos in all three tests due to the presence of brisbane broncos fullback darren lockyer, who was also the captain of the kangaroos.
anthony minichiello