Cronk wasn’t a passenger in the decider — as some have suggested — but a conductor. His heroics are being compared to that of Sam Burgess (who played through the 2014 grand final with a fractured cheekbone) and John Sattler (who played through the 1970 grand final with a broken jaw) and that’s fair enough. Loading If the ARL Commission has its way, though, it will also be the last time the public, punters and press are misled about a serious injury being carried by a side’s most important player. We didn’t know the true nature of Cronk’s injury until Roosters co-captain Boyd Cordner blurted it out after the game on Channel Nine that it was a broken shoulder blade.

Herald colleague Adam Pengilly, who was sitting next to me in the press box, said something that can’t be repeated in a family newspaper when he heard Cordner’s remarks. Last Thursday, he had been strongly tipped that Cronk hadn’t suffered a “severe” rotator cuff injury in the preliminary final against Souths. It was actually a fractured scapula, all the way through the bone. Pengilly called Roosters doctor Ameer Ibrahim and asked if the mail was right. He instantly dismissed it. “Laughable,” Ibrahim said. Hero's reception: Cooper Cronk greets Roosters fans at Allianz Stadium on Monday. Credit:NRL Photos About 1pm on Sunday, I ran into Ibrahim outside ANZ Stadium. Again, I asked him if Cronk was actually suffering a broken shoulder blade. He used the same word: “Laughable.”

He went further, describing Cronk’s rotator cuff injury as a “grade-three tear”, before explaining the rotator cuff had four tendons and that blah blah blah … It was all bullshit. After the match, Herald colleague Adrian Proszenko asked Ibrahim if he had lied to reporters. “I just didn’t tell them the truth,” Ibrahim replied.

At the post-match media conference, Robinson wore the trickery around Cronk’s injury as a badge of honour. “We were really honest: not with you guys [the media], but the players,” he said. “We knew that the rotator cuff was good for us to have. If we said it was a fractured scapula, it was pretty obvious that he either wasn't going to play and it wasn't gradings, whereas the rotator cuff was a certain range.” Robinson has every right to lie to the media if he wants, although it’s going to be difficult to trust his public comments about anything from now on. Rare company: Cronk's effort puts him alongside other famous grand final efforts, like Sam Burgess in 2014. Credit:Brendan Esposito What point is there in checking the validity of a story, especially an important one about a player’s fitness, if his club is going to lie? As for Ibrahim, if you can’t trust a doctor, who can you trust?

Some at the NRL actually believe the speculation of the last week, the cat-and-mouse games between the Roosters and the media, the sight of helicopters hovering over the captain’s run at Allianz Stadium, the international-man-of-mystery routine, was a good thing. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Adds to the mystique, apparently. Gives you blokes something to write about, apparently. Given the appalling level of media access to both teams in grand final week, perhaps they are right. Robinson and the Roosters can use whatever means, under the rules, to win the premiership.

The coach and halfback are geniuses, no matter how you swing it. How much the lies and subterfuge around Cronk’s injury helped them is a question for them. What is does, though, is treat everyone outside their club as mugs. Loading It is understood the ARL Commission will look at transparency around player injuries because what happened with Cronk hurts the game’s integrity. Whether you like it or not, the game makes about $20 million per season in sports gambling revenue — a figure that is about to double annually from new point-of-consumption gambling taxes in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. Sportsbet is also a major sponsor of the NRL.

Just like horse racing, anything that influences the punter’s dollar must be completely transparent. Serious injuries to senior players fall firmly in that category. More than that, fans who pay through the nose for tickets, especially to grand finals, deserve to know who is playing. The grown-up sport of the NFL has a strictly enforced policy about injury disclosure, from the exact nature of the complaint, to when players have missed training sessions, to what they’ve done in the gym. “The Personnel Injury Report Policy has been a cornerstone of public confidence in the NFL for many decades,” the policy reads. “The credibility of the NFL … requires full compliance with and uniform enforcement of the policy. “The intent is to provide full and complete information on player availability. It is NFL policy that information for dissemination to the public on all injured players be reported in a satisfactory manner by clubs to the league office, the opposing team, local and national media, and broadcast partners each game week of the regular season and postseason, including for the two Super Bowl teams.

Full disclosure: America's NFL has a transparent policy when it comes to injuries. Credit:AP “The information must be credible, accurate, timely, and specific within the guidelines of the policy, which is of paramount importance in maintaining the integrity of the game. Loading “A violation of the policy may result in Commissioner discipline, which may include a fine on the involved club, fines or suspensions of involved individuals, as well as the possible forfeiture of draft choices by the involved club.” Will the NRL consider something similar?

“We tightened up the team-list system so clubs could not just bring someone in at the last minute,” NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said. “No doubt, as we go forward, we will need to look at further tightening the rules.” The other option, of course, is ignorance. Politis specifically told Robinson not to tell him about the severity and then progress of Cronk’s injury. He thought it was a rotator cuff injury – like the rest of us. His reasoning was he didn’t want to lie to people, including the media, if they asked about Cronk’s injury.