BRENT KITE has represented Australia in the front row but has never won a man of the match award in seven years of top-grade rugby league. Yesterday that empty cupboard of recognition was filled with the prestigious Clive Churchill Medal for man of the match in a grand final. And indirectly, Kite believes being sidelined by the NSW State of Origin selectors helped him and the club during yesterday's torrid, fast-paced match.
"I am a front-rower, and front-rowers don't get those sorts of awards," Kite said yesterday, cradling the medal while in disbelief at being singled out in a team that featured Jamie Lyon, Matt Orford, Josh Perry, Glenn Stewart and Michael Robertson.
Kite didn't want to be singled out, and several times noted that he accepted the award on behalf of all of his teammates. On stage, in front of more than 80,000 people, including the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, Kite had cuddled his three-year-old daughter, Georgina, and said of his mates, "I love youse all."
Kite's lasting deeds, though, were on the field, not behind the microphone. Kite scored a second-half try to cement Manly's shellacking of the Melbourne Storm - pure icing on the cake of a performance that featured inspirational line breaks. The selectors, who nominated the man of the match, were obviously taken with Kite's running; he took the ball up 19 times to lead his side's hit-up stats with Anthony Watmough. Critically, Kite made serious indentations in the Storm defence, attracting a huge gathering of defenders and allowing space for his colleagues to open up the Storm defence out wide.
Nonetheless, the medal award must have been a close decision. Kite's forwards teammate Glenn Stewart made a stunning 38 tackles and 17 hit-ups, and the Manly man out wide, winger Michael Robertson, scored a hat-trick of tries to establish the Sea Eagles' dominance.
Selectors being selectors, and the game's foundations built on the traditions of the big men, it was always going to be difficult for a winger, even one as fast as Robertson, to usurp a front-rower.
Robertson scored three tries in the narrowest of gaps by the corner posts and, to cement his place in the hearts of the Sea Eagles fans, he set up a try for the club's departing golden boy, Steve Menzies. Oh, the glory of it all.
Kite said being snubbed by the Origin selectors after playing in the Centenary Test did not motivate him to prove a point. Instead, he said missing three tough matches meant he was fresh at the end of the season.
"Not putting my body through the equivalent of three grand finals was a blessing in disguise, and it happened for a reason," Kite said. "I didn't hold my breath after not being selected for the first one, I was obviously out of favour. But I don't need any more motivation [to win a premiership] than knowing what losing a grand final is like."
Kite said the impact of Perry and everyone's experience of last year's loss was critical.
"Glenn Stewart said he didn't feel that he was playing any better this year, and I felt the same, but I think it was just that we were all trying to be more effective. I would take a run when we needed it rather than just do a hit-up for a hit-up's sake," he said.
Kite said the Storm were never going to beat his team because emotionally the Sea Eagles were primed. He said the team had come together in the past month.
"They weren't going to beat us today; no one was going to beat us today," he said. "We hadn't put it together all season except for the past couple of weeks, which was fantastic. It has actually been just awesome."
Yet the prop, who moved to the Sea Eagles from St George Illawarra, also attributed the Sea Eagles' strong grand final preparation to Menzies, who, he said, had helped keep a lid on the team. Kite's starring role will likely cement his place in the Australian World Cup side, named tomorrow.
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