Dale Finucane has helped the Melbourne Storm to the 2020 NRL premiership and earned himself a Blues selection in the process.
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Finucane in just his second game back since round 14 played 52 minutes of the grand final off the bench in Melbourne's 26-20 win over the Panthers.
There he made nearly 90 metres for his club off 13 runs, including nearly 40 post-contact metres.
He also provided good defensive service with 24 tackles and one handy chip off the boot.
Despite running out for the full first half, Finucane played little in the second where the Storm had taken a commanding 26-point lead following a 60-metre line break from Ryan Papenhuyzen in the 45th minute.
The Panthers would go on to post a desperate 20-point fight back in the final 27 minutes of play with superb tries to Josh Mansour and Nathan Cleary lifting fans' hopes before time ran short for the Penrith club.
"It's been a crazy year ... we've been here for four or five months later and still here, going on to win the premiership it's never something I would have imagined happened in our lifetime, but it's made the win all the sweeter," Finucane said.
Speaking from the Storm's resort on Monday, Finucane said celebrations had run long into the night, but recalled a nervous patch in the dying minutes of play.
"Yeah very nervous [in those last few minutes], we were quite dominant early on for points, but they scored a couple of quick tries late and it really put the pressure on - given we had 11 people on the field as well.
"With three seconds on the clock remaining to defend that one single play was quite nerve wracking, once I saw the ball was dead and the boys were up in the air it was absolute joy."
The Panthers' impressive 17-game-winning streak halted by the Storm, who have now become the most dominant name in the NRL in the 21st century.
However, Panthers fans could be forgiven for feeling robbed after a dozen points for Melbourne came off the back of penalties.
Sliding defender Tyrone May put a leg up to defend the line against a diving Justin Olam, but knocked the ball clear and the Storm were instead awarded a penalty try.
Then a simple offside against Villame Kikau had Cameron Smith lining up neatly for the two at 20 minutes, and again just four minutes later when James Fisher-Harris was called up for a late tackle.
Cleary seemed to be shouldering a lot of the responsibility in his comments to media after the game.
"I thought I let the boys down," Cleary said.
"There were a few moments through the intercept and the one at halftime.
"Just let in too many ordinary tries."
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Now with a Blues selection to go with the premiership ring, Finucane said it would be great to have his 2019 room-mate and Clive Churchill Medallist Ryan Papenhuyzen with him in Blues camp.
"It's an amazing journey that he's come through to be 22-years-old and win the premiership and the Clive Churchill Medal, I'm so proud of him, he worked so hard.
"It will be really good [to have him in camp]. It will be good to have familiar faces there - obviously Joshy is there as well and some familiar faces from last year and good friends of mine, I'm looking forward to it."
With Finucane and Papenhuyzen also to be joined by Josh Addo-Carr, while four from the Panthers were named including Cleary, Stephen Crichton, Jarome Luai and Isaah Yeo.
Finucane and the other selections will have little time to celebrate or commiserate the result though, with the players to join the rest of the Blues in camp near Gosford to train on Thursday.