Michael Witt remembers the Warriors' epic finals try against the Storm in 2008

Brendan Bradford

Michael Witt remembers the Warriors' epic finals try against the Storm in 2008 image

Any Warriors fan will be able to tell you exactly where they were on the afternoon of September 14, 2008, when their unfancied eighth-placed outfit took on the might of the table-topping Melbourne Storm juggernaut.

The Warriors were given no chance.

An eighth-placed side had never beaten the minor premiers in the first week of the finals under the old McIntyre system, and Ivan Cleary’s team should’ve been cannon-fodder for a Storm line-up featuring Billy Slater, Israel Folau, Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith.

What happened that afternoon remains one of the greatest moments in Warriors history.

It also provided one of the side’s biggest “heart in your mouth” moments ever – which is saying something for the Warriors.

THE MATCH

The defining moment of the high-paced grind of a game happened in the 78th minute, with the Kiwis down 15-14 after Inglis had kicked a long-range field goal 10 minutes earlier.

From a 20m restart, Warriors five-eighth Michael Witt went wide to centre Jerome Ropati on tackle two. Folau had rushed up too eagerly in defence and was fended off as Ropati made half a break before off-loading to Manu Vatuvei.

At the peak of his powers, Vatuvei stepped inside Cronk, outpaced Jeremy Smith, drew two more defenders and sent a speculative off-load back inside to Witt, who had a clear run to the line.

PUT THE BALL DOWN, MICHAEL!!

It was the shout heard around the country and in commentary as Ray Warren, Gus Gould and Peter Sterling lost their collective minds.

With no one left to beat, Witt sprinted to the corner, but instead of diving over the line, he held the ball above his head as Cameron Smith lunged out in a desperate effort to stop the match-winning try being scored.

So, why did he do it? Simple. Witt was time-wasting.

“I was running down the clock, but I didn’t even realise until I saw replays that I’d held the ball in the air like a clown,” he tells Sporting News.

“But my whole idea was that I knew that Blairy (Adam Blair) was chasing me and was running pretty hard.

Michael Witt

“I knew that if I got into the corner, he’d keep running, and I was hoping to be able to just stand there.

“I think there was about a minute left on the clock, so I just wanted to stand in the corner and not put the ball down. That was the plan anyway.

“I didn’t see Cameron Smith. The ultimate professional, he chased and he tried to kick it out at the end, but I don’t think it was ever in doubt.”

ONE OF THE GREATEST SPRAYS OF ALL TIME

If you watch the footage closely, as Smith falls to his knees, Warriors halfback Nathan Fein gives the exhausted hooker an absolute earful.

It was one for the ages, says Witt.

“I remember Nathan Fein giving me a big cuddle and giving Cameron Smith one of the all-time sprays over my shoulder that you could ever hear,” he laughs.

“He just gave it to him.

“You couldn’t repeat the language he was using, but it was just letting him know that we were winning and he was a loser.

“Between Feiny and I, we didn’t get too many chances to put it over Cam in our career, but that was one of them. I think he’s had the last laugh though.”

Fein

THE REACTION

Most of the team were happy enough to get the win, but captain Steve Price saw it differently.

“Pricey was a bit dirty. He’s a bit old school like that,” Witt says.

“Pricey was like ‘what are you doing? Don’t ever do that again.’

“Ivan was sweet though, he didn’t care. He said it was all good. He actually thought they’d called the play back and that’s why I was standing there.”

JEROME AND MANU

The match-winner wouldn’t have been possible without some huge plays from Ropati and Vatuvei, who had both scored earlier in the match.

“Jerome was playing fantastic that year, and I always tried to give him a long ball and early ball and let him go one-on-one with his centre,” he says.

“He terrorised a lot of opposing centres that year.

“Melbourne shortened up their line, and I just wanted to get the ball to him early and see what he could do. He beat Israel Folau all ends up, and put big Manu away.

“Manu’s so big and powerful, you couldn’t tackle him one out, so that drew a few defenders in and gave me some space.

“He just flicked the ball out one-handed and it hit me perfectly. You can’t train for that, it just happens. It was meant to be.”

THE AFTERMATH

Witt missed the sideline conversion, and Melbourne had one play to steal it at the death, but in one of the more bizarre endings to a footy match, went 40m backwards before the game finished.

The good times rolled on a week later when the Warriors smashed the Roosters at home to advance to the prelim final against Manly.

The Sea Eagles were too good on the night, scoring a 32-6 win before smashing Melbourne in the Grand Final. 

Brendan Bradford