Xavier Coates and 5 of the most ridiculous try finishes from recent memory

Drew Darbyshire
Xavier Coates Melbourne Storm Alamy

Xavier Coates scores a wonder try for Melbourne Storm

If there was such a thing as the Puskas Award in rugby league, then Melbourne Storm winger Xavier Coates would hands down be this year’s winner.

The Papua New Guinea international left the rugby league world stunned this weekend as he produced one of the greatest finishes we’ve ever seen.

Coates scored the match-winning try thanks to an incredibly acrobatic finish in the corner to seal a pulsating 30-26 victory for Melbourne against the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL.

No, we aren’t exaggerating. It’s genuinely one of the best finishes we’ve seen. Take a look at the clip below if you don’t believe us..

Coates’ try got us thinking.. Where does it rank amongst the best tries scored? Obviously archive footage doesn’t go back to 1895, but we’ve come up with a five from recent memory, with some belters scored in the NRL, Super League and on the international stage.

Dom Young

The England international scored a beauty for Newcastle Knights against St George Illawarra Dragons last season, which was voted as the NRL’s Try of the Week. Young is a towering winger, but has also got bags of athleticism as shown in this remarkable effort.

Tom Johnstone

To be fair, you could put endless try-scoring efforts from Johnstone in this article.. But we’ve settled on this one of him in action for his old club Wakefield against their rivals Castleford in the early rounds of 2020. We’ve probably watched this at least 10 times whilst writing this article.

Tommy Makinson

Much like Johnstone, Makinson is another player who produces these freakish finishes on a regular basis. The St Helens flier somehow managed to get the ball down despite being put under pressure by then Leeds full-back Richie Myler. Spectacular effort.

Matty Russell

The flying Scotsman produced an exquisite finish for the Bravehearts in a test match against England in Coventry during the 2016 Four Nations. Russell was facing his own try-line at one point, but somehow managed to reach out and ground the ball right in the corner. Superb.

The FIFA Puskas Award goes to the male or female judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant or ‘most beautiful’ goal of the calendar year.. Rugby league might just have to come up with a similar award for Coates, who can bask in the glory as we watch it over and over, and over.

Take a bow, Xavier Coates. That try was filthier than a miner’s shoelace.

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NRL Dom Young