Very few times do we ever see a Rugby League match take 100 minutes to decide a winner, and it’s just as rare to see two sides duke it out in two consecutive weeks.
But that’s exactly what happened when the Sydney City Roosters faced the North Sydney Bears in the first week of finals in 1997.
Running hot off a six-match winning streak, Phil Gould’s side had finished in fifth place in the 1997 Australian Rugby League season, booking their spot in the finals series for a second consecutive season since their great rebuild the year prior.
The Roosters had coincidentally defeated the Bears in the last round of the regular season, with Gould tactically resting as many troops as possible in preparation for what was expected to be a torrid finals series.
On that occasion, Captain Brad Fittler was described as ‘superb’ against Norths as he steered the side to a 29-20 victory, despite having stars Andrew Walker and Luke Ricketson recuperating on the sidelines.
Finals Week One, 1997: Roosters vs Bears
This time around, however, it would be his halfback Adrian Lam stealing the limelight with a stirring performance.
Resuming hostilities at the Sydney Football Stadium, both sides were quickly reacquainted in a closely fought opening, but it was the Bears who crossed first through Ben Ikin before adding a penalty goal for an 8-nil lead after 20 minutes.
The scenes looked ominous for the men from Bondi as a kick out on the full allowed Brett Dallas to slide over in the corner just moments later, before halfback Jason Taylor iced a near-perfect first half with a field goal for a 13-nil lead.
Perhaps the nerves of expectation had taken over – after all, it was just their second finals appearance dating back to 1987.
But if there was any hope of breaking the decade-long drought, it would have to come in the next 40 minutes, at the very least.
The Roosters came out firing from halftime, and although they curiously slotted a penalty goal from the boot of Ivan Cleary to open their scoring, Taylor hit back with a one-pointer of his own to bring the deficit to two converted tries.
Denied time and time again, the Red, White and Blue failed to yield as they continued to search for their first try of the match, and it finally came as Andrew Walker swooped after running off a Brad Fittler pass.
A nail-biting period saw the visitors attacking the line with the Bondi Wall holding up in fine fashion – and soon enough the momentum swung and Walker was over for his second after the mercurial fullback fooled everyone off a scrum feed.
With just six minutes remaining in regulation time, Taylor kicked his third drop goal for a one-point difference, with hope looking lost – until Adrian Lam stepped up to the plate.
With just seconds remaining on the clock and the Roosters looking rudderless 30 metres out, Lam schemed from dummy half, struck the ball, and in one of the scrappiest field goals you’ll see, sent the match into extra time with the scoreboard reading 15-all.
Lam Sends the Match into Extra Time
With the wind – and the raucous crowd – behind their backs, Gould’s men rallied throughout the ensuing 20-minute period, forcing an error near the line which let Sean Garlick crash over from dummy half to give them the lead for the first time.
Advantage Roosters.
The roll-on continued and just minutes later as a right-side raid saw Cleary cross in the corner for a ten-point buffer, and just as the first period looked over, Lam made his second major play, streaking away to bring the scores to 31-15.
In a dour final ten minutes, Norths hit back with a try of their own in the dying stages, but after a tense second stanza, a penalty goal in the shadows of fulltime iced the 33-21 victory, culminating in an unforgettable 100-minute epic.
Sydney City Roosters 33 (Andrew Walker 2, Sean Garlick, Adrian Lam, Ivan Cleary tries; Ivan Cleary 6 goals; Adrian Lam field goal) def North Sydney Bears 21
