First tackle: Simply crackers
Anyone who has ever stopped to consider the need for the pyrotechnics they wheel out before NRL games, would have been shaking their heads at the fiasco that occurred in Melbourne on Saturday.
As the visiting Raiders ran onto the field through the obligatory curtain of sparks, centre Joseph Leilua suddenly clutched at his eye and went to ground. The start of the game was delayed as the team doctor tried desperately to flush his eye clear.
Officials eventually allowed the Raiders a free interchange in order to get the game underway, while Leilua headed to the sheds where the doctor was able to remove an object from his eye. He was able to take his place in the Raiders backline and eventually set up the match-winning try, but what a terrible look it was for a supposedly professional sport.
Seriously what do these spark spewing contraptions add to the game apart from a pall of smoke that often blankets the opening minutes? When they become a risk to player safety, it is surely time to pack them up and put them away for good.
Second tackle: Incredible Parratmosphere
Unless you are there, you really can't appreciate just how loud a full house at Bankwest Stadium really is. The television effects microphones are designed to pick up the sounds of the game, while the crowd noise remains in the background. Even then you can hear the roars and the chants on your television, but when you are there you can actually feel the noise.
Being there in person, you begin to understand how the crowd can physically lift the Eels. The support is palpable and the desire to please all those fans is immeasurable. It is part of why they have won nine of 11 games played there since it opened.
It's a pity the Eels now face the Storm in Melbourne where the crowd for the Raiders final was disappointing. Finals deserve to be played in the atmosphere generated by a full stadium. If they manage to beat the Storm, the Eels will then play the Roosters at the SCG. The last time the Eels won a premiership was at the SCG and the stands were full of blue and gold on that day back in 1986.
Third tackle: Momentum reversed by one call
It doesn't take much to turn a game, even an elimination final. The Sharks traveled to Brookvale and were winning the opening exchanges, swarming in defence and driving the Sea Eagles forwards backwards. The Sharks looked like scoring first, until a Shaun Johnson grubber kick went well and truly dead and the pressure was lifted momentarily.
Still the Sharks were next on the attack and as they worked the ball forward Sea Eagles prop Sean Keppie deftly tapped the end of the ball as he released Andrew Fifita from a tackle. The ball hit the ground and Fifita was ruled to have lost it. Despite his protestations a scrum was packed and the Sea Eagles given the feed.
Five tackles later and Apisai Koroisau plunged over under the posts to open the scoring. Tellingly as the Sea Eagles players headed back to their end of the field centre Moses Suli made a point of shaking the hand of Keppie as they exchanged wry grins and words of encouragement.
From the ensuing kickoff, with the help of a penalty, the Sea Eagles marched down the field again for Suli to score on the end of a brilliant Daly Cherry-Evans pass. The Sharks never recovered from there and now their season and Paul Gallen's career are over.
Fourth tackle: Broncos simply awful
The first couple of touches by Anthony Milford didn't bode well for the Broncos. If they were to have any chance of beating the Eels, he had to be at his very best. Early on he was caught with the ball inside his own half on the last tackle, then not long after, as he crabbed across the field on the fifth tackle he was flattened by Waqa Blake.
He was then caught out of position by a Mitchell Moses grubber kick which Moses regathered for a try. He wasn't the only Bronco struggling with Alex Glenn looking completely lost at left centre. The Eels continually attacked Glenn's side in the first half, and opened the Broncos right up.
Parramatta's early domination was so complete that it wasn't until the 23rd minute that the Broncos carried the ball into the Eels half. They rarely threatened the line for the entire game, as the Eels set a new record for the highest margin in a final.
Most experts were finding it hard to split the two before the game, with the home stadium tipping opinion in Parramatta's favour slightly. Channel Nine commentator Andrew Johns was prophetic in tipping the Eels to win well, by 20 or more, with plenty of points to be scored.
Fifth and last: Defending premiers put on a show
The Roosters made a mockery of their end of season defeat at the hands of the Rabbitohs. Many thought the Round 25 Rabbitohs fightback victory was a sign that the finals weren't going to be as red white and blue as last year.
The return of Luke Keary, Mitchell Aubusson and Brett Morris made such a big difference to the reigning premiers, as they put on a sobering first half display of brilliant attacking football. Some of the tries they scored down the right hand side of the field were up there with the best all year.
Latrell Mitchell may well be the premier centre in the game at the moment, but Joseph Manu is not far behind him and may well inch in front on consistency alone. The Roosters are going to be terribly tough to beat, as they attempt to go back-to-back.
Handover: Unexpected clashes for second week
Eels fans are always optimistic and most figured their team was capable of beating the Broncos at home. What very few of them expected was that they would have to travel to Melbourne to take on the Storm in the second week of the finals. Most had the Storm penciled in for the week off, but the Raiders proved they are right in this with an upset victory.
The Sea Eagles lost Tom Trbojevic to injury two weeks ago and more recently Martin Taupau to suspension. The Sharks had demolished the Tigers to make the finals and were expected to carry that momentum to Brookvale and beyond. Coach Des Hasler had some surprises up his sleeve for Paul Gallen and his teammates, setting up a tantalizing clash with the wounded Rabbitohs.
Week two of the finals is always interesting in that you have two better performed teams trying to bounce back from a first up defeat, facing two lower teams coming off sudden death victories. It will take some good coaching to turn things around for the Rabbitohs and Storm - how fortunate that they have two of the best coaches ever at the helm.