Fairytale endings rarely eventuate in sport.
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It doesn't matter how hard you work, how many years you prepare or even how much you believe you deserve the fairytale finish its impossible as one athlete's fairytale finish is another's nightmare.
Imagine how Brisbane Bronco halfback Ben Hunt felt when he woke on Monday morning after dropping the ball that gave the North Queensland Cowboys the field position to pot a field goal during Golden Point in the NRL Grand Final.
Imagine how, just minutes earlier, rugby league immortal in waiting Johnathan Thurston felt when his conversion from the sideline to win the match hit the upright.
Whilst Thurston was walking on air after the game Hunt was plunged into the depths of despair.
One man's dream becomes another man's nightmare.
How easily could the tables have been turned?
Thurston had earlier lost possession which led to a Bronco try and conversion.
With just seconds left on the clock in normal time those six points were the deciding factor.
And then the hand of fate intervened in a match that had more twists and turns than a French cycling classic.
Gus Gould revelled telling television viewers to mark down particular points in the game as turning points but for mine he missed the real clincher, a turning point which had nothing to do with how hard the players ran, how many tackles they made and how many errors the referees made.
The real deciding factor was in the leadership and team work which was unfolding in the Cowboys huddle as Thurston took an eternity to line up the conversion.
The commentary team informed us the Cowboys were preparing for extra time.
I'm sure some of the conversation actually revolved around extra time but what happened after Thurston's kick was waved away suggests to me that much of the talk centred around lifting Thurston to enable him to continue to direct the team around the paddock at a level needed to secure the win.
Rugby league fans, if you watched this game you witnessed a classic piece of a team lifting a team mate whilst he was down.
To a man the Cowboy players consoled Thurston.
They showed him that they still had faith in him and needed him.
They didn't give him time to dwell on what had just unfolded.
They backed him to get them over the line and he did just that minutes later when he potted the field goal to give the Cowboys a memorable victory.
That's what I call teamwork.
andrew.fisher@fairfaxmedia.com.au