Roosters’ Keary claims Clive Churchill

After effectively doing the job of two men, Luke Keary has claimed the Clive Churchill Medal for his inspirational performance in the Sydney Roosters’ 21-6 NRL grand final win over Melbourne.

With halves partner Cooper Cronk playing with a broken shoulder blade, Keary stepped up to the plate and put in a consummate performance at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.

The crafty No.6 did everything playing on both sides of the field from taking on kicking duties, directing the side around the park and booting the match-sealing field goal.

It was the Ipswich-born 26-year-old’s second premiership ring after guiding South Sydney to the title in 2014.

With Cronk touching the ball on just 17 occasions, Keary had to do a bulk of the playmaking.

His spiralling cut-out pass for Daniel Tupou’s opening try was inch-perfect.

He kicked in general play on 18 occasions for 441m.

By comparison, this year he averaged just 4.1 kicks and 97m with the boot per game.

Cronk often sat behind the ball and directed traffic, and it was up to Keary to execute the plays.

As the Roosters worked their way into field position in the 69th minute, Cronk pointed at where he wanted the team to go and Keary worked himself into position and potted a 20m field goal.

“It’s been an awesome year,” Keary said on stage after the match.

“This medal, everyone’s got a little bit of it, all 30 of it. All the support staff, I can’t support you enough.

“Let’s party.”