By fulfilling their NRLW premiership destiny, the Roosters are living history

Because the NRLW is still so new, history is being made all the time and there's a lot of firsts: the first standalone grand final, for example, or the first season of expansion, which are important milestones for an avenue of the sport that is still developing.

However, the history created by the Roosters the moment the siren sounded in the grand final at Redcliffe is different: It's the living history, the one that people keep alive through the stories they tell about what they remember, and this was a game to be remembered.

It was the competition's first arm-wrestle of a grand final. Each of Brisbane's triumphs had some sparkling footy from the Broncos, but none of those grand finals were true contests. The Queenslanders were too good for everyone else.

This was different. It was rugby league played as a head-on car crash, as grand finals can be sometimes.

Madison Bartlett's try in the opening minutes — which came on the very first play the Dragons had possession — was a blistering opening salvo that turned out to be a red herring.

It raised the possibility that the Roosters had played their last wild card last week in their comeback win over Brisbane.

But John Strange's side are never dead. Since the start of the season — and even when they looked gone after only sneaking into the finals on for and against with more losses than wins — they felt they were destined to win the premiership and, when it comes to grand finals, destiny is something players create for themselves.

«I was really confident. If we got the opportunity to play in the semis that they would do what they've done to the Broncos and the Dragons, who have been really good sides in this competition and really consistent,» Strange said.

«That belief was there the