2003 grand final rewind: How Panthers upset Roosters

It will forever be remembered for Scott Sattler's try-saving tackle on Todd Byrne, but the man who made it will also recall Penrith's 2003 grand final win for an extraordinary individual performance that he insists stands alone.

Panthers hooker Luke Priddis won the Clive Churchill Medal in the 18-6 win over the Roosters for a performance of the rarest quality on the NRL's biggest stage.

"You look at his statistics – two try assists and one try – and Priddis came up with an enormous work rate and saved multiple tries right on the line," Sattler told NRL.com.

"I still think to this day it is the greatest individual performance ever in a grand final."

Priddis was in everything before making a 45-metre dart from dummy half to set up winger Luke Rooney for a try on the 30-minute mark.

In the second half the Roosters scored in the 48th minute through Shannon Hegarty to level the scores at 6-6, seconds after a try-saving tackle by Priddis on Jason Cayless.

Priddis broke the deadlock with a try from dummy half in the 66th minute as he overpowered Craig Fitzgibbon.

He was at it again in the 73rd minute when a cut-out pass on the last tackle sent Rooney in for the match sealer. The commentators said "take your hat off to John Lang" because they thought it was a planned move but Sattler remember it otherwise.

"We were going for a field goal," he said.

"Priddis took off and threw a cut-out ball but no-one knew about it and I remember Craig Gower yelling 'no' because he had set for the one-point. Priddis played the numbers, chanced his hand and threw a pass because he knew Rooney would be out there."

That try may not have been part of the coach's plan but his season plan worked a treat.

"Johnny Lang simplified the game and tapped into what made guys like Tony Puletua, Joe Galuvao, Rhys Wesser and Craig Gower tick," Sattler said.

"We were second last in 2002 and won it in 2003 because of the subtle touches he made to those guys individually. I use things I learned off John Lang in business and in life now… things like the building blocks to success and that if you can't change the situation then change your attitude."

Best player: Never was there a more emphatic winner of the Clive Churchill Medal than Priddis. For a start, his toughness just to be there.

"Priddis didn't play in the qualifying final because he had a rib injury and the needle nicked his lung. He played against the Warriors the next week in extreme pain and then shouldn't have played in the grand final," Sattler recalled.

"He only trained for one session because his household had a really bad virus, but being a grand final he went out there.

"He had this amazing motor and knack of turning up in areas of the field that he was not supposed to be. Priddis came up with a tackle in the second half in the south-eastern corner that is never spoken about. Craig Wing throws a dummy and goes through and if Priddis isn't there Wing scores."

The play of the day: In the 54th minute Sattler raced across from one side of the field to the other to tackle a flying Byrne, who had run 55 metres, into touch inside the Panthers' quarter line.

Sattler has a unique perspective on it, looking back.

"I look at it in the third person, like I am a spectator now," he said.

"I made the tackle and there was this stony silence, like an echo. On the footage you see Tony Puletua hovering over Todd Byrne and giving him an absolute mouthful and I remember hearing that.

"Gone are the days where locks are meant to cover but John Lang always said that if I was on the opposite side of the ruck, and the ball went the other way, to start running in behind the line. He prepared me for that situation."

Sattler also recalled another preparatory act that he had no idea would get him ready for his greatest moment on a rugby league field.

"Every Wednesday for four years I'd go and run this disused train line in the Blue Mountains. There was this old set of steps I'd run and there were 83 of them," he said.

"A kid from university did a thesis on how I prepared for games and came on a couple of those sessions with me. He said, 'Do you know how many steps you take on those runs?' I said '83'. Then he said, 'Do you know how many steps it took to chase Todd Byrne?' I said 'No'. He said, 'It was 83'.

"John Lang prepared me for it in the way he wanted locks to play, but it was nice to know all those extra sessions I did prepared me for it as well."

The unsung hero: Roosters captain Brad Fittler recalled in an interview with Inside Sport that the grand final was the most brutal game he had played in. That brutality was epitomised by kamikaze Panthers prop Martin Lang who threw himself into the fray with no thought for self-preservation.

"Martin Lang was amazing that night and got knocked out twice," Sattler said.

"Before Priddis scored his try and it was 6-all, I remember thinking that we had given it everything and absorbed all this pressure and it wouldn't have surprised me if we broke, because they had all these big game players.

"Then Martin Lang comes up with this run that is never really talked about. Luke Ricketson and all these Roosters put this massive shot on him and he just ricocheted off them and ran another five metres forward. From that moment I thought 'we've got these guys'."

What-if-moment: For Sattler, the Roosters may have been more potent had captain Brad Fittler had full mobility in his shoulder.

"We played the Roosters in round 20 and in that game Tony Puletua flipped Freddy Fittler on his shoulder and he injured it," Sattler said.

"He played with it for the rest of the season and it really affected his passing game. In that grand final he throws one pass in the first half from left to right and it went straight into the ground because he didn't have any power in his pass."

The quote: "That is one of the greatest tackles you will ever see… in any game." - Channel Nine commentator Paul Vautin on Sattler's tackle.

Recollections of a champion: Scott Sattler (Panthers) - "One of the most vivid memories I get from that game is sitting in the dressing sheds watching our second grade side play Canberra in their grand final, and then they showed the cameras in the dressing room with Anthony Minichiello looking really serious and tense," Sattler recalled.

"Then the cameras went to our sheds, and when Preston Campbell saw he was on TV he started smiling, waving and hamming it up. I thought the sheds were polar opposites – one, ours, really relaxed and enjoying the moment and theirs really weighed down and tense."

Recollections of a runner-up: Chris Walker (Roosters) – "We had won the minor premiership, we were defending premiers and raging hot favourites," Walker said.

"It was a game that we should have won but my ex-Broncos teammate Luke Priddis came out and played the house down and was the difference.

That is one of the greatest tackles you will ever see… in any game.

Paul Vautin

"They had a well-rehearsed plan and it worked but it wasn't the best night for us.

"The forwards belted each other and my abiding memory of that game, as an outside back, was going to the stadium and it started raining, and then it rained during the game.

"A lot of my game was built around the ground being fast but it was soggy and not pleasurable to play on."