Penrith’s grand final hero Stephen Crichton has revealed the training and planning that resulted in his game-winning intercept try against South Sydney on Sunday.
The scoreboard was locked at 8-8 when Crichton snatched a Cody Walker pass out of the air and sprinted away to score. The game ended 14-12 when the Bunnies scored a bounce-back try but Adam Reynolds failed to convert it.
And it turns out Crichton’s moment of brilliance was no fluke or act of luck.
In fact Channel Nine’s Danny Weidler learned the Panthers had been training for that exact moment – an errant Walker long ball that could be stolen.
Former Penrith halfback and current assistant coach, Peter Wallace, had taken the place of Walker at training sessions during the week leading up to the premiership decider.
Wallace was essentially Walker in the opposed sessions where Crichton practiced that exact scenario.
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“Even when Peter Wallace was playing he was really technical with how he played,” Crichton told Weidler.
“Having him train at Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker’s position really helped us train and prepare for the game.”
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It’s a common tactic, and one that helped South Sydney only a week earlier.
Suspended fullback Latrell Mitchell had pretended to be Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic during training drills leading up to the preliminary final, in which the Bunnies beat the Sea Eagles and Trbojevic was kept quiet.
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