Looking back on the remarkable year that was, NSWRL.com.au counts down the 10 best games from the 2018 Intrust Super Premiership NSW season. At No.2, the game's most exciting moment came beyond the buzzer.
In a result more suited to a goal-less football match, the Frank Hyde Shield ended in a nil-all draw.
No, that wasn't the score in either Newtown v North Sydney game; both matches we’re high scoring thrillers. In fact, both matches ended in a draw.
It’s hard to determine which of the games were more exciting, so it came down to the pure drama that happened after the buzzer of the Round 9 clash at Henson Park.
The Jets opened the scoring but it was the Bears who dominated the early stages of the game. Some Robbie Farah class led to Sam Johnstone to crash over, before two right-side shifts extended the margin out to 18-6 at half-time.
Newtown were forced to fight back in the second half, with a right-side shift meaning three tries in a row had been scored on the same patch of grass.
Alike the Farah-Johnstone combination, Blayke Brailey linked up with Addison Demetriou for a powerful try, before a strong bust by Jack Williams allowed the Jets to take the lead when he passed to a supporting Sione Katoa for his second try.
Suddenly down by four after leading for most of the game, the Bears needed to scramble for points.
With fewer than two minutes remaining the Bears were on the attack and the ball found its way into the hands of crafty halfback Dean Hawkins.
Hawkins put in a perfectly directed cross-field kick towards the left corner to which Amanaki Veamatahau won the contest and slammed the ball down. The score was 22-all and the last play of the game would be the conversion.
Hawkins lined up the shot and struck it beautifully. The Rugby League Gods, however, favoured Newtown by a matter of centimetres as the ball crashed into the left upright.
It was a hotly contested clash that was genuinely a game of two halves. Perhaps a draw was a fitting result.
Watch the highlights of the game in the video at the top of the page.
