It is worth noting the stunning try which followed still would not have happened without the amazing inside step and no-look flick pass of Shaun Johnson back to Tomkins.
He collected it in one hand, and then the fully extended dive by Tuimoala Lolohea secured the stunning play, by planting the ball right at the corner flag.
There was a time in the NRL where Lolohea's mid-air superman dive was a stunning innovation, first brought about and then even practised by teams after the introduction of video referees and the clear mandate that only the barest of clearly controlled pressure is required to secure a four-pointer.
But because Lolohea successfully executed the finish, we have to return to the Friend backflip, described by commentator Andrew Voss as "maybe the greatest feat of gymnastics rugby league you've ever seen".
It gets even more impressive when you let the freeze frame roll on (God bless MySky and Youtube) and see that after his upside down pass, Friend continued rotating to land relatively safely on his hands and knees.
Simply put, Lolohea's dive is the standard now - you won't make first grade if you can't do it - but Friend's inverted miracle has literally taken things to a whole new level.
Previously, one of my cult favourite plays was by that famous loose cannon Mark Geyer for the Penrith Panthers in their uplifting Grand Final win over the Canberra Raiders in 1991.
Back from a 10 minute spell after calling referee Bill Harrigan a cheat, Geyer ended up with the ball in a midfield set move that had gone wrong, but when met in the tackle, he somehow just flicked the ball backwards over his and the tackling Raider's shoulder to centre Brad Fittler.
Fittler fed reserve Brad Izzard to score the try which locked the scores up, finally breaking Canberra's brick wall after over 30 minutes of fruitless pounding.
If this were a modern video game, Geyer's play would be about Level 2 now, while Friend's effort is all the way up on Level 12.
There is not a defence in the world that can plan for those slights of hand.
They are the reason the most simplistically structured of football codes - six tackles to score or kick for territory - does not stagnate into scoreless draws.
Sky Sports columnist Phil Clarke said back in May, the attacking kick has become the most important skill in rugby league.
"The rules of the sport and the nature of the game limit the ways in which teams can strike, and as a result we're starting to see a similarity in the way that teams attack," he said.
"A few teams have players who are more accurate at long passes ... but these skills are becoming less important as the game evolves.
"The improvement by teams in reading the attacking plays of their opponents means that they're declining more running plays. However, defending against kicks is a bit harder to do."
I'm somewhat inclined to agree, but the most important aspect emerging is not just the well-weighted kick, but rather the timing and the skill of the bloke who's chasing it.
Witness State of Origin III a fortnight ago, when Queensland's Justin Hodges followed a grubber kick at full speed into the New South Wales in-goal.
With no time to stop before the dead ball line, Hodges got his feet in the air and in one movement, batted the ball backwards into the arms of teammate Matt Gillett, who was able to secure and ground it, at speed, in one motion himself.
"Another one of those miracle tries, that rake in from outside the dead-ball line," cried commentator Ray Warren.
"That is freakish rugby league."
If it's happening often enough that Warren would use the words "another" and "miracle" in the same sentence, then perhaps it's time to move the goalposts on what constitutes a miracle, as these big men keep flying without wings.
