Cameron Smith admits the 2016 Grand Final loss against Cronulla was one that got away, as the former captain of the Storm says he felt his side 'was in control' moments before the Sharks scored the winning try.
The Storm had done well to come back from an 8-0 half time deficit to lead 12-8 with 12 minutes to go before Andrew Fifita barged through multiple defenders to score the winning try in the 69th minute.
Smith says he was confident of success before the try was scored.
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"We've been in this position many times before, this is the position we're very comfortable [with], being up by four points and being able to close out a game," Smith said on SEN's The Captain's Run reflecting on the match.
"But we invited the Sharkies down our own end I think through some ill discipline... and then Andrew Fifita scores that try where he had three or four of us hanging off him and he reached out and scored the try, which put them up by two.
"All of the sudden, it was a tight game again."
"It was a funny old game, because they were so on top in the first half, and for us to fight back, moments before the Fifita try I was supremely confident that we're going to win.
"Because I'm thinking 'we've been the better team this second half, we're up by four points now, we're in control of this match.'"
It was one of the more dramatic Grand Finals in recent times, and Smith gave huge credit to a Cronulla side who he believes put in an excellent first half performance that laid the platform for their win.
"The Sharkies [put in] their best 40 minutes of the entire season in the first half, that's where they really took the game away from us," he said.
"Not only through their defence, but the way that they moved the ball, the way they were running - they were super aggressive - and they really shut us out of the game.
"I don't think we really had the ball up in their half with any real attacking opportunity against them."
Despite being shattered by the defeat, Smith says he remembers feeling happy for the Sharks players and fans, as they broke a 50-year premiership drought that night.
"I genuinely was very happy for their footy club and their fans given they hadn't won one [premiership]," Smith said.
"I remember speaking after the game when I went up to do my speech... that I was actually really happy for their footy club and their fans to experience that.
"Some of them Cronulla fans had waited a lifetime for that moment, so from a fan's point of view, that was an incredible thing. As disappointed as I was that we didn't win the match, I was really happy for those who waited a long, long time to actually experience a Grand Final win for the Sharkies.
The Storm-Sharks rivalry, matchups in finals
That Grand Final came in the midst of what was something of a rivalry experienced between the two sides in the mid 2010s, as both competed for top four places and in finals battles.
Famous moments include a game at Shark Park in 2017 where Smith was sin binned for the first time in his career to the delight of the home fans, and a 2018 preliminary final where Billy Slater's controversial tackle on Sosaia Feki made headlines in Melbourne's 22-6 win.
Smith agrees that he and his Melbourne teammates felt a rivalry was born in this time.
"When you do play a Grand Final against a certain team, I think a rivalry is born moving on through seasons afterwards," he said.
"I think most certainly there was with the Sharkies team particularly because they were quite strong in that period... they competed hard, and we had some close battles with them.
"I think the match-up between myself and Gal [Paul Gallen] had something to do with it as well given Gal was the captain of NSW and I was the captain of Queensland through that little period."
The rivalry will be ignited on Saturday when they face off in the qualifying final at AAMI Park, where the Sharks will be looking to overturn a poor record in both the finals and against the Storm.
The 2018 preliminary final defeat began a losing run in finals matches for the Sharks, as they have lost all their matches in the finals since then.
They have also won only two of their last eight games against the Storm, though they did record a famous win at AAMI Park in the regular season, giving them some hope they can pull off a big upset in week one.
