With halfback Cooper Cronk unlikely to play because of his busted shoulder, and having relied heavily on defence all season, it is safe to assume the Roosters will try to tackle their way to a grand final win over the Storm. They suffocated the Rabbitohs out of the preliminary final, keeping them try-less. Expect more of the same against Melbourne, who will try to do the same to Roosters and especially so if fullback Billy Slater is suspended for his alleged shoulder charge against the Sharks. “Robbo is really big on getting his message across that Jack Gibson said defence wins games,” utility Ryan Matterson said. “[Former backrower] Craig Fitzgibbon is our defensive coach and he wears his heart on his sleeve when he talks about defence. We train our defence basically every day. If the opposition don't score points then they don’t win.” Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Gibson would surely have approved of that last sentence. He couldn’t have said it better himself.

Big Jack was a student of American football and made several trips to the US in the 1960s and ’70s to learn from NFL teams, something that’s now common practice for NRL coaches. When the Roosters won those premierships in 1974-75, he often rattled off a line he picked up from legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi: “If the opposition has zero points on the scoreboard, you can't lose”. Gibson was a prop with limited skills as a player but he made up for it with redoubtable defence. It then became the cornerstone of every team he coached. He was the first to introduce tackle counts and tackle bags made out of the inflated inner tubes of tractor tyres. “Like downing a greased pig,” he would say before rolling one down a hill and telling his players to chase after it.

He took over Eastern Suburbs in 1967 after they had failed to win a game the previous season. They stunned everyone when they went as far as the semi-final with a defensive record second only to eventual premiers Souths, using a supremely fit forward pack to race up and snuff out the opposition’s attack before it could get started. In 1973, he did something similar when he took an underrated Newtown as far as the preliminary final. When he arrived at Bondi the following year, it was feared he would stifle the attacking creativity of a team featuring Arthur Beetson, Ron Coote, John Peard, Johnny Mayes, Mark Harris and Russell Fairfax. Gibson wanted Coote, in particular, to defend in the front line and make more tackles.

The player the coach admired most was pint-sized backrower Barry “Bunny” Reilly, who would tackle a blade of grass if it was in front of him. “I want all Easts players to tackle more,” Gibson said at the time. “If my style doesn’t suit the side, and players like Coote, then I will have to alter my tactics. But we’ll do it my way for a start.” The criticism of Gibson being too reliant on defence instead of attack isn’t too dissimilar to what’s been levelled at Robinson this year. Gibson’s philosophy was always about doing whatever possible to get the job done, no matter how it looked. Like Robinson, he knew that once you had an impregnable defensive line, attack would follow. Wayne Bennett, a Gibson disciple, did something similar with the Dragons when they finally won the premiership in 2010 after decades of grand final heartbreak.

The Roosters (361 points conceded) and Storm (363) have been the competition’s best defensive teams this season. The next best was Sharks with 423 points conceded against them. Second-rower Mitch Aubusson has been playing for the Roosters longer than anyone in the current squad. He was part of the guard of honour formed by current Roosters players at Gibson’s funeral in 2008 when Gibson passed away at the age of 79. Was the defensive effort against Souths the best he’s been a part of? “Good question,” he said. “To hold them to no tries was something that will stick in the memory bank for a long time. We beat Manly 4-0 in the first week of the finals when we won the comp in 2013. It’s hard to compare but the effort against Souths is right up there. What Robbo said about Jack struck a chord with me. We have to replicate that for sure in the grand final.” Said co-captain Boyd Cordner: “We pride ourselves on our defence. Robbo had a little bit to say about Jack Gibson. He was a man of few words. Robbo’s the same.”