Grand Final Preview #1 - How a 2017 swap transfer culminates on Friday

Over the course of the week building up to the Grand Final, you will hear a lot about the retirements of Sean O'Loughlin and James Graham. And with good reason too. Two club stalwarts, two men who have won everything in the British game. Two glorious careers, but only one can end with a fairytale.

But they are not the only players who will hang up their boots for the final time. St Helens' criminally underrated second row forward Zeb Taia will retire after Friday's Grand Final. However, an overlooked tale of Friday's match is the curiously intertwined careers of Taia and Joe Greenwood.

Greenwood was highly rated by St Helens after breaking into the role of a first team regular in 2015. Although some questionable defensive displays and rumoured fall-outs with then head coach Keiron Cunningham led to rumours that Greenwood may leave the club. The rumour mill soon went into overdrive, with rumours that Gold Coast Titans' Zeb Taia may be involved in a player swap deal.

"God help us if that's true". "Surely we wouldn't be crazy enough to exchange players with 10 years difference in age". "Barmy". These are just some of the reactions from St Helens fans to the suggestion, a fanbase skeptical following the signatures of players such as Matty Smith, Jack Owens and Tommy Lee, which were universally unpopular amongst the fanbase. That being said, some Saints fans were pleased with an experienced player who impressed at Catalans coming on board.

The Cunningham era at St Helens brought with it some eyebrow-raising recruitment decisions. Cunningham was sacked by the club less than a month having completed this deal, which was unquestionably his best piece of transfer business for St Helens.

Taia has been a mainstay of the St Helens team since his arrival. Despite being 36 years of age, he remains a dangerous wide runner, strong in defence and capable of marvellous pieces of skill such as his inside flick to set up a try for St Helens against Catalans in their semi final. It is rare for a 36 year old to achieve such consistency. He could certainly keep playing, but it is hard to begrudge him from going out at the top of his game.

If Taia's time at St Helens has been a pillar of consistency, then Joe Greenwood's career since he left has not been. Greenwood did make 22 appearances for the Gold Coast Titans, but sat out far more matches than he would have liked due to concussion issues. He was taken from the field on four occasions in his first four months with the Titans due to recurrent concussions. Greenwood accidentally became the face of the NRL's public dilemma of how to deal with such injuries.

Despite much hope and being lauded by Phil Gould as one of England's most promising young talents, Greenwood never made the desired impact in the NRL, nor has he managed to reach the international stage, which many thought he was set for.

Greenwood returned to England in 2018 with Wigan. His start to his Wigan career was solid if unspectacular, but he did manage to make the starting line up for the Grand Final and won the first major honour of his career.

After a turbulent few years, things were looking up for Greenwood, and his career was looking to be stabilising. However, as the season went on, Greenwood's appearances were becoming limited to the bench. The theme continued into 2020, with Greenwood once again being on the outer, losing his place in the 17 man squad entirely. In March 2020, he was deemed surplus to requirements by head coach Adrian Lam and sent on an 8-week loan spell to Leeds.

This was a disaster. Greenwood displayed symptoms of coronavirus on the eve of Leeds' trip to Catalans and before too long, eight members of the Leeds staff had to self-isolate and the match was postponed. A week later the season was suspended, not to return until August 2020. Greenwood's time at Leeds came to an end mid-lockdown. His Wigan career appeared to be treading water. Now age 27, you began to wonder whether a career that had started with so much potential was about to fade into obscurity. Greenwood himself would have needed an incredible amount of mental strength not to have been having similar thoughts.

Without being privy to the goings on at Wigan, when the season resumed, Greenwood was named in the 17 once more and became a regular again. Evidently, his hard work and determination was starting to bear fruit.

The culmination of that was Wigan's victory away at St Helens in September 2020, where he came from the bench to wreak havoc on his former club. He led the charge with dominant runs, clever offloads and caused untold problems to the St Helens left edge. Joe Greenwood being Joe Greenwood, nothing is ever straightforward. He was sin binned a few minutes from time courtesy of a needless high tackle on Matty Lees.

Greenwood has served a two match ban for his indiscretion and is again available for the Grand Final. Given his last performance against St Helens, it would be a brave call by Adrian Lam not to reinstate him. With a possible injury to Ben Flower, his place now looks more assured.

It is funny how things can turn full circle. Zeb Taia and Joe Greenwood have never been team mates, but have played for some of the same teams. The last few years of their careers have been defined and shaped by an unexpected swap transfer in 2017. Their careers have inexorably crossed paths over the last few years.

With Taia's retirement at the end of the 2020 season, this bizarre rugby league tale will soon reach its natural climax. The two second rowers will cross swords one final time on Friday. The way this story has unfolded so far, you would not bet against one of the men having a game-defining impact on Friday's Grand Final.

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Whilst you're here...why not read our other blogposts in our Grand Final preview series?

Grand Final Preview #2 - The Curtain Call
Grand Final Preview #3 - What a difference a year makes