Standard knowledge says a winger cannot win the Clive Churchill Medal for greatest participant within the NRL grand ultimate.
It is by no means occurred within the awards’ 37-year historical past, with playmakers and infrequently forwards dominating the listing of previous winners as outdoors backs get ignored within the chilly.
The bookies predict it to occur once more, with Brisbane’s Reece Walsh and Penrith’s Nathan Cleary heat favourites to take it dwelling after Sunday’s decider.
But when ever a winger might win it, it is Brian To’o, and if he cannot do it then it most likely cannot be completed in any respect as a result of it is exhausting to see a winger doing greater than what To’o has managed in Penrith’s most significant wins over their exceptional four-season run.
The highlight is at all times drawn in direction of backbone gamers however To’o has quietly put collectively a repute as among the best big-game performers in your entire sport. It is exhausting to think about a winger doing extra on the most important stage.
He was at it once more in Penrith’s 38-4 win over Melbourne within the preliminary ultimate when he scored three tries, ran for 181 metres and broke 9 tackles.
After the match, To’o was limping round on a sore calf and seemed like he’d simply been in a automotive crash, however that is commonplace for the nuggety Samoan worldwide. The bumps and bruises he wears aren’t an occupational hazard — they’re why he does what he does on the sector.
“I at all times have the urge to return off that subject and really feel busted up, however I at all times need extra of it. I can not get sufficient of it,” To’o mentioned.
“It is at all times part of the job however I find it irresistible. I like the physicality, the battle between two groups.
“With the massive events, everybody has to play their position and do their half. That is all I am making an attempt to do; I simply need to do my job to the most effective of my skill.”
The perfect of To’o’s skill has confirmed itself to be fairly rattling good, and the numbers he is put up over the previous few finals collection are completely wild.
He is received 182cm and 97kg of Samoan metal at his disposal and, by God, he will use it the one method he is aware of how — by operating the ball over and over and over till there’s no person else to run it at.
To’o has scored 12 tries in 11 finals matches because the begin of 2020, together with a minimum of one in every of Penrith’s 4 preliminary ultimate wins and in three throughout two totally different grand finals.
Over the previous three finals collection, To’o has averaged 24 carries, 229.5 metres and 6.75 deal with busts per recreation and proven an ideal knack for peaking on the proper time.
In 2021, it was his strive simply after half-time that put Penrith in management of their epic preliminary ultimate win over Melbourne, which he scored on a busted ankle.
Final 12 months he was at it once more with a long-range intercept strive that flipped the script within the prelim win over Souths and on the way in which he despatched Cody Walker to the land of wind and ghosts with a hellacious fend.
And, like all big-game specialists, To’o by no means peaks too early. In every of Penrith’s two grand ultimate victories he is produced his highest run metre whole of the finals.
And final 12 months, when he scored two tries and churned out 299 yards on the bottom, solely a sterling show from fullback Dylan Edwards stored him from claiming man of the match honours.
It was the second 12 months in a row To’o might declare runner-up standing for the Clive Churchill Medal — he ran for a whopping 299 metres from 24 runs within the membership’s 14-12 win over South Sydney the 12 months earlier than, lacking out to halfback Nathan Cleary.
However the legend of Massive Recreation Bizza has stored rising on a regular basis, and he is already received a bit little bit of {hardware} to show it after To’o claimed the Brad Fittler Medal as New South Wales’ greatest participant on this 12 months’s Origin collection.
To’o is humble to a fault and disregarded any discuss he might make historical past on Sunday towards Brisbane.
In keeping with him, his energy, sturdiness, and inhuman willingness to maintain taking up each opposition defender he can discover comes from his teammates.
“I get it from our middles, as a result of I do know they’re busting their arses,” To’o mentioned. “I get motivation from them. They do the exhausting yards and so they’re extra busted than me.”
“I get again and do my job for them.
“My drive comes from not solely my household and my religion however from the boys we’ve right here. Everybody is keen to return and put the exhausting work in, and it is an infectious vitality.
“Now we have that may to grind exhausting for one another.”
