Penrith’s victory in the 2023 NRL decider was the greatest grand final comeback, surpassing Melbourne Storm’s magnificent second-half hunting down of St George Illawarra in 1999 (the subject of my next grand final summary).

For me, there are two defining images from the game.

The first is of Isaah Yeo – Penrith’s spiritual leader  – on his haunches, concussed. Dazed, he’s looking at the video screen and about to be removed from the field for a HIA.

Jarome Luai has succumbed to his shoulder injury and Brisbane are ahead 24-8 after a 10-minute blitzk of Penrith’s feared defensive line.

The game is nearly three quarters done and as good as over.

The break in play allows Penrith fans to appreciate why a threepeat is rare, and to honour their team for making four consecutive grand finals.

For Brisbane supporters it provides an opportunity to take in what has just happened – the realisation that the premiership has been all but secured and the sorrow of 2015 has been expunged.

For the aesthetes of attacking football it’s validation of their tastes – the ruthless defensive game of Penrith (inspired by and modeled on Craig Bellamy’s austere early teams) finally being dismantled by the free spirited party boys Ezra Mam and Reece Walsh.

Instead, the break proves Brisbane’s undoing. It allows Penrith time to recover and reassess. They go onto to score three tries. The Broncos don’t score again.

The second defining image of the match is that of Nathan Cleary about to plant the ball in what will prove to be the premiership-winning try. In the background – on his knees and looking down – is Walsh.

There are other significant figures in the contest but it was always going to come down to the actions of the two superstars – Cleary and Walsh.

Reece Walsh. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Completely different, equally fascinating and mesmerising, Walsh and Cleary embody the nature of their respective teams.

Cleary has the calmness of a man who knows God is looking down, guiding him. He resembles a bird of prey searching for an ill-timed movement, his jutting brow the top of a slit trench hiding the dark scheming eyes.

Referred to as “The Iceman” in the match commentary, he shares the mindset of Michael Fassbender’s clinical assassin in David Fincher’s brilliant film, The Killer: “It all comes down to preparation, attention to detail … keep calm, keep moving.”

Walsh is the Vaslav Nijinsky of the NRL (“I’m not an ordinary man. I’m a dancer. You will understand me when you see me dance.”).

He’s a creature at the whim of the spirits.

At definitive moments a light force within suddenly sets those luminous eyes ablaze. Made more mesmerising and nerve wracking for defenders by the long dark lashes, they glow with exhilaration as he leaps, fends, prances and pirouettes – effortlessly and magnificently – through the defensive line.

However, these scintillating performances come at a price. A sensitive soul in a body not entirely suited to the brutal business of rugby league, Walsh is prone to fatigue, mental lapses, niggling injuries and anxiety which he struggles to disguise.

.Just three minutes into the contest Fox Sports commentator Warren Smith notes: “Reece Walsh, nervous at the back of the scrum”. He looks distracted and disorganised. Shortly afterwards, he’s limping after copping a stray boot.

In the 19th minute Penrith get the first try when hooker Mitch Kenny scores unopposed. He is unopposed because Walsh, instead of standing on the line in front of the play as a fullback should, is wandering aimlessly, hands on hips, around the in-goal area.

For most of the entertaining first half it appears all Penrith have to do for a third consecutive title is feed efficiently off Brisbane errors.

And then comes the exhilarating period immediately after halftime when Mam scores a hat-trick of tries in 10 minutes.

The replay of the third try – the one spawned by Walsh and the most exhilarating of the trio – is caught superbly by the front-on camera.  Walsh performs a majestic vertical leap and upon landing, plants an explosive left foot on the advancing Cleary. For once, the Penrith halfback appears mesmerised by Walsh (those eyes, those thighs) and left humiliated on the turf.

The Broncos fullback has advanced 15 metres before Cleary summons the will to turn and watch the try unfold. Walsh then puts a step on Liam Martin, who also hits the ground, and immediately fends off Izack Tago. The Penrith centre, recovering from the shove, goes through the motions of a chase. When Walsh offloads to Mam, Sunia Turuva, arriving from the opposite wing, takes over the doomed pursuit.

In the slow motion replay of Mam’s run, the despondent faces of Yeo, Cleary, Martin and Edwards are clearly seen in the background before gradually moving out of focus as Mam extends the distance.

Inexplicably, Brisbane don’t attack that left edge again. After his line-breaking heroics and performances for the camera, Mam shows little urgency or creativity.

The first worrying sign for the Broncos comes at the 63rd minute when Brendan Piakura fails to secure a slipping Luke Garner who continues his run with a disturbing lack of urgency from his opposing second-rower and the other defenders.

In the next play Cleary dissects Kurt Capewell and Mam and offloads to Moses Leota for a free run to the try line.

On the third tackle of the next set Cleary kicks a 40-20 and soon sets up Stephen Crichton for a try.

The try, of course, is significant. The game is about to enter the final 10 minutes and Penrith have reduced the deficit to a mere unconverted try.

With Kotoni Staggs dangling like a corpse at the end of Crichton’s outstretched right arm and Selwyn Cobbo grasping at the ball in Crichton’s left hand the latter’s foot lands on Cobbo’s and the body of Staggs slides underneath causing Crichton to fall backwards.

Nathan Cleary celebrates with teammates after the 2023 NRL Grand Final. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Walsh has arrived, too late and too fast to make substantial contact with the slipping figure and is propelled over the sideline. Walsh’s lightening speed and propensity for leaping and overreaction are liabilities for last line defence which requires a solid base and intense focus on the ball player

As Crichton lands fully on the unfortunate Staggs, he rolls over and slams the ball down.

The try brings a sense of the inevitable. Ten minutes left for the relentless Panthers to suffocate the life out of the gallant but fading Broncos.

In the 71st minute Walsh produces another scintillating run from the back half sliding from the left to the right side beating a never ending line of defenders, and is tackled 35 metres from Penrith’s line.

With 72 minutes gone, Crichton executes a grubbing kick intended for the in-goal area. Walsh is out of position and a little slow to react but retrieves it. He slides onto his back stopping just inches outside the try-line when he is struck in the back of the head by Turuva’s stray knee.

He reacts in pain, likely expecting a penalty to ensure. Grimacing and with his free hand on his head the fullback remains a passive figure for a Crichton flop tackle whose impact propels him over the line for a line drop-out, giving the relentless Panthers yet another opportunity for glory.

Then, in the 78th minute the two superstars come together for the match-defining play.

Walsh is at marker on Penrith’s try line when Kenny sends the ball to Cleary about six metres out. As the halfback receives the ball Walsh has advanced five metres into play with Kenny and Scott Sorensen between him and Cleary.

Walsh has no reason to be there. The two Penrith forwards are marked by Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas, and are obscuring his view of the play.

Cleary puts a left foot on the leaden-footed and fatigued Adam Reynolds and accelerates past Billy Walters. Jordan Riki, who is rushing across from marker, is unable to stop his sideways momentum and prevent Cleary sliding past him also.

Ezra Mam celebrates with teammates after scoring in the GF. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

It is only at this moment that Walsh responds, having to sprint back and across from behind Kenny and Sorensen to plant an ineffective arm on the shoulder of Cleary who shrugs it off and continues his run to ground the ball in front of the goal posts, ensuring a premiership-clinching conversion.

But even up to the final 30 seconds, the Bronocs fullback is still the only man capable of snatching the premiership back as he accelerates through Jack Cogger and Crichton. With the former around his feet and the latter on his back the maestro looks for a late offload but he has no support and turns it over, sealing the fate of his team.

Tackler Crichton responds by screaming into the back of Walsh’s head, illustrating the threat this flawed genius posed even for a team as good as Penrith.

The cerebral and almost emotionless Cleary rarely inspires such fiery responses from the opposition. But more often than not he proves to be the greater threat.