What a wild ride it’s been.
A 17th team was rubber-stamped, there was a coaching feud, brutal hits, tries on debut, golden point thrillers and we farewelled legends of the game as the next generation announced itself.
Covid-19 came back for round two and the competition was relocated, while Dragons players will think twice before ever having a BBQ again.
Crackdown became a buzzword, Ronaldo Mulitalo was eligible then ineligible to play Origin all in 24 hours and fans witnessed perhaps the best individual season in NRL history from Tom Trbojevic.
But before a single try was scored, the Melbourne Storm’s greatest — and some would argue the NRL’s greatest — hung up his boots.
After months of ducking and weaving to avoid the question, Cameron Smith finally announced his retirement a week out from the 2021 season.
It seems like a distant memory now though given so much has happened since then, so let’s revisit 21 moments that defined the 2021 season.
Over the next four days, foxsports.com.au will count down 21 of either the biggest, most controversial, most celebrated or in some cases, the most heartbreaking moments of the season that was.
“He’s made his debut on a big stage and the boys made sure that they won. They weren’t going to do anything else but win for him and I appreciate it” - Eels coach Brad Arthur
It wasn’t a huge story, but it was one of the most heartwarming of the year.
Dylan Brown’s suspension opened the door for Brad Arthur to hand his son his NRL debut during Magic Round.
It was a mad rush leading up to the big day with a few hurdles to overcome first, including upgrading Jakob to the top 30, returning a negative Covid-19 test and ensuring all of the biosecurity protocols were ticked off to get him into the player bubble.
But it was all worth it when he had a hand in a 43rd-minute try and then scored the match-sealer in the 75th minute.
Proud dad, Brad, fist-pumped the air in the coach’s box and the two shared an emotional hug in the sheds afterwards.
There was no shortage of storylines leading up to this year’s grand final. We had Penrith’s shot at redemption following 2020’s heartbreak, Wayne Bennett and Adam Reynolds’ last hurrah for the Bunnies and the speculation surrounding Benji Marshall’s future.
It all kicked off in week one of the finals — well, actually it had been brewing since August but it really bubbled over in September.
Cleary urged the NRL to come down hard on the Rabbitohs amid plans to target his son and Penrith’s star halfback, Nathan ahead of their qualifying final.
In the same week, Bennett privately complained about Penrith’s use of ‘illegal blockers’.
The two traded jabs in their respective press conferences throughout the finals series.
Cleary got the last laugh when Penrith defeated South Sydney 14-12.
