This Is Why The NRL Should Never Ditch Golden Point

In a few madcap seconds on Sunday, the Canberra Raiders shanked a last-ditch field goal, scored a winning try, and gave golden point extra time a stay of execution.

Sunday’s Raiders game at GIO Stadium was Victor the Viking’s 600th game as mascot, a landmark occasion to which the Green Machine rose with a golden point win for the ages. A truly horrible Blake Austin golden point field goal attempt somehow turned into a stunning try out of nowhere for Jordan Rapana to cap off an incredible 22 point turnaround during the regulation time period.

It was so out of the blue, the commentators couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. One cried “look out!” as Rapana scores, like he was yelling at someone about to ding their car during a poor parallel parking attempt. The confusion afterwards continued as they repeatedly get the score wrong and then forget that you don’t take conversions in golden point.

The entertaining mayhem of the scene is a blow to the critics who have rubbished the golden point format over its 13 year lifespan. Those naysayers seem to be getting their way – at least partially – with the NRL recently ruling that golden point will no longer be used to decide finals matches.

Hopefully this doesn’t mean we’ll see the end of golden point altogether. Rapana’s opportunistic effort was the 99th overall NRL result to be decided that way, and ditching the format would mean the end of classic finishes like these:

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck gashes his old team

Tuivasa-Sheck’s season might be over for the Warriors, but he chimed in with this beauty before he got injured to help put the dagger into the Roosters.

Shaun Kenny-Dowell picks it like a dirty nose

This play was the first ever time golden point had decided a finals match. The stage had been set by a dramatic Braith Anasta field goal on full time to tie up the scores.

Darren Lockyer’s ascension to Valhalla

The last act of a storied career that included premiership, Origin and test match success despite somehow losing his voicebox in the early 2000’s. Lockyer suffered a facial injury in the match that prevented him from carrying on the finals campaign with the Broncos, so this ugly field goal was his final touch.

Ben Hunt makes Maloney pay

James Maloney had just attempted to win the match for the Roosters, his field goal clanging off the crossbar. He probably wished he had put a few more Weetbix on that kick as he watched Hunt ghost through some tired defence a few moments later.

Anthony Milford gets some revenge on the Cowboys

OK, so I haven’t put last year’s grand final on the list, because Thurston’s winning FG wasn’t particularly high on the difficulty scale. Milford’s revenge shot only five months later definitely won’t make up for the heartbreak of losing a grand final, but it probably played a part in softening chief critic Wayne Bennett’s stance on the golden point.