Far from getting stressed out when his team went a man down inside the first minute of Friday night's preliminary final, Storm skipper Harry Grant broke the tension by cracking a joke.
The sin binning of big man Nelson Asofa-Solomona after the game's opening tackle on Lindsay Collins threatened to rock the minor premiers, but according to back-rower Shawn Blore, the Storm have developed an attitude to “let the footy take care of itself”.
“When they took the two points after Nelson was binned, when we were down to 12 men, Harry straight away looked at everyone and started cheering,” Blore told NRL.com after his side’s 48-18 victory over the Roosters.
“That lifted us a little bit, because we looked at it as a little win [that they took the two]. Obviously they scored the next try but we felt like it was never really in doubt.
"When they went over, we knew that we had 30 seconds left until we got 'NAS' back, and that’s when we could start the game for real.
Munster on the money
"Once we laid the foundation, our natural game came through, and that was it.
"With this side, it feels like we’re never out of a game, no matter what the scoreline is.
“We have the attitude coming into this week, just play our game and we’ll let the footy take care of itself.”
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Another challenging moment came at the beginning of the second half, when tries to Terrell May and Nat Butcher in the space of three minutes pulled the Roosters back to 24-18 and playing with momentum.
The leadership team including Grant, Jahrome Hughes and Cameron Munster helped settle the team back down and stem the tide.
“They just said to defend a set, get the ball back, run hard, and let the footy take care of itself – and it did after that,” Blore said.
“The spine was on fire. Once we defended a few sets, we could see the Roosters boys getting a bit tired on their legs, and the rest is history.”
As Blore prepares for his first grand final he can reflect with pride on a remarkable season after arriving from Wests Tigers as a largely unheralded back-rower with 33 games to his name.
Having overcome two ACL injuries and a broken wrist in recent years, Blore has come of age at the Storm, playing 23 matches and taking his game to a whole new level under Craig Bellamy.
Paps puts on a show
Making the moment even more special at AAMI Park on Friday night was the presence of his family among the packed crowd.
“It doesn’t even feel real. My parents, my sister and my partner and her family are probably going through more than me right now," he said.
"To me right now, I’m just so numb. This is just insane.
“Once I have a good night’s rest and wake up and actually let it sink in, then I can really start to enjoy it. But right now, it’s just unbelievable."
