Hugh McGahan: Burgess being labelled a legend is over the top

Shaun Kenny-Dowall won last year.

Last weekend's grand final lived up to all expectations in terms of drama, brutality, tension, excitement and emotion. The television commentators also created a legend out of Sam Burgess.

The incessant reference to his last game, his broken cheekbone and his every touch of the ball was over the top. His story is now bigger than that of John Sattler's broken jaw from the 1970 grand final.

This was played at a time and in a cauldron when the opposition would have openly targeted Sattler's injury, without fear of crucifixion from the referee. Players today are protected from the violence of 30-50 years ago, when that sort of behaviour was mandatory.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall had his jaw broken for the Roosters in last year's grand final. It prevented him from playing in the World Cup but he wasn't afforded legend status in the same way Burgess was.

Many players have persevered through games with injuries to help their team win.

Burgess was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match, which only added to the bigger South Sydney story, but I think others deserved it more.

I thought his brothers, George and Tom, were better with their ball carries and defence. The same can be said of Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary with their tactical kicking and short, decisive runs.

I'm not a huge fan of John Sutton, but he had his best game for a long time with a lot of small plays which were enough to keep the Rabbitohs on the front foot.

Souths totally deserved to win to bring relief and justification for their reinclusion in the NRL to their long-suffering fans.

As is normal for grand finals, it wasn't a great spectacle.

The Rabbitohs wanted to bury the memories of their last two campaigns, when they were bundled out in the preliminary finals. They also wanted to lay to rest the last 43 years of disappointment since their last premiership. In doing so, they built on their record as the most successful club in the competition and now have 21 titles.

They were helped by an inefficient and rudderless Bulldogs team who were well down from their three previous games. The halves combination of Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds were nowhere to be seen and their forward pack were reduced to one-out runners seeking a way past a green-and-red wall.

It was only their desire to compete, to not give in, that kept them close until the last 15 minutes when the Rabbitohs confirmed their dominance with points.