BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

It is still considered by many as the greatest playoff series in the history of rugby league in Australia. Every match of the 1994 finals was a classic before the Canberra Raiders finally flexed their muscle to secure the premiership against Canterbury 36-12.

But for four magical weeks at the Sydney Football Stadium, under the September sun of the Harbour City, rugby league’s greatest players put on a spectacular show and none better than what the long-suffering North Sydney Bears delivered against the back-to-back defending premiers – the superstar Brisbane Broncos – in week two.

Incredibly, just a day later on Sunday, the Bulldogs (minor premiers) snatched a cracking 19-18 victory over the Raiders who had one hand on the trophy in 1993 before halfback Ricky Stuart was ruled out late in the season with a horrific ankle injury.

But 24 hours earlier, all eyes were on the Bears and Broncos.

The Broncos had eliminated Manly-Warringah in week one while the Bears were dominated by the Raiders 26-12. Good experts were predicting the Bears, who hadn’t won a premiership since 1922, to fall at the hands of the star-studded Broncos who were gunning for three straight titles.

What came next sent footy fans on the North Shore into a frenzy.

GO WITH THE FLO

The Bears started like a house on fire and after six minutes cut the Broncos wide open from their own 40 with a classy offload from Gary Larson to a flying Matt Seers who got in to the back field before lobbing a pass across to his Kiwi winger Sean Hoppe who was eventually stopped just 20 from the line. With the Broncos desperately trying to get back on side, Jason Taylor shot a bullet pass across field to grizzled veteran Mario Fenech who linked with the man that started it Larson who then found the rampaging Greg Florimo who bounced across the line for the first try of the afternoon.

BRONCOS STAMPEDE BACK

The Broncos had it all to do with a quarter of regular time to play and down 14-8. But then the ghosts of North Sydney’s past reared their ugly heads with the Bears turning over possession inside their own half. A charging Glenn Lazarus set them up close to the line before a galloping Peter Ryan offloaded to Kevin Walters who scampered around next to the posts to score. Julian O’Neill locked it up at 14 and every Bears fan in the country began to quiver.

THE SHARPEST SHOOTER

All eyes were on Bears skipper Taylor – an assassin-like field goal exponent with just minutes to play before the final siren. With the Bears strategically lumbering toward the middle of the field, the Western Suburbs junior positioned himself on the left. The pass came and after stepping away from one Bronco, hit the kick perfectly as it sailed between the posts.

But the Bears still had to go on for another five minutes with Kangaroos half Allan Langer’s last shot at equaling it up with seconds to play barely getting off the grass.

The Bears were through and Brisbane had been vanquished from the ’94 finals.

@woodward_curtis