'That set the trigger': The unknown villain revealed 10 years on from infamous Bad Friday chaos

It's one of the most iconic photos in modern NRL history. Then-Bulldogs captain James Graham with his curled finger in the face of referee Gerard Sutton – he felt pointing was rude – as David Klemmer furiously bellows next to him.

In commentary for Nine, Eels legend Peter Sterling declared the end of the 2015 Good Friday clash – or Bad Friday as it would come to be known – "the most unbelievable final five minutes of a game" he had ever seen.

A furious Graham had just been penalised for taking Adam Reynolds' legs from under him in a charge-down attempt.

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The two points from the penalty goal gave the Rabbitohs an unlikely win. Having trailed all day, they probably didn't deserve it.

Luke Keary was Reynolds' halves partner in that game.

"I remember Klem losing it, Jimmy doing the pointing thing – that was quite funny – but yeah it got volatile real quick," Keary tells Wide World of Sports from France ahead of Friday's 10-year Bad Friday anniversary.

"No way (did we deserve to win). They were beating us the whole game."

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As the referees walked off the field, they were pelted with bottles and other projectiles by furious Bulldogs fans.

A sideline interchange official was taken to hospital with a shoulder injury, while touch judge Nick Beashel hit the deck trying to avoid the bottles.

Several were sanctioned. The police investigated several scuffles elsewhere in the stands.

A decade on, Wide World of Sports looks back on one of the darkest days in the game.

The build up

While the 2015 edition was only the fourth Good Friday clash, it was already becoming a staple on the NRL calendar. The Bunnies won the first two before the Bulldogs won the 2014 clash by a point.

The Bulldogs won the reverse fixture later in 2014 before the Bunnies got the ultimate revenge with a drought-breaking grand final victory.

The 2015 Good Friday clash was to be the first time the two sides had met since the grand final.

Canterbury favourite Josh Reynolds had missed the previous three weeks with a broken arm, but was cleared to return off the bench.

The crowd was big – 40,523 braved the drizzly weather, which only added to the sense of theatre.

"There's thousands of fans, there's the Easter Show, there's show bags everywhere," Reynolds said on the Fox League podcast last year in recalling that fateful day.

"I used to love it because there's just that feel. It's hot, it's always hot. It's always the daytime, it's bright. It's a massive rivalry … we disliked Souths.

"I think we've had close to 50,000 sometimes and that's like semi-final stuff. Even guys that haven't played semis you can just tell, it's like 'wow, this is huge'.

"And you hear the roar when you walk out ... it's epic."

Having later spent years at the Roosters, Keary said the Good Friday clash was the Rabbitohs' equivalent of the Chooks' Anzac Day clash with the Dragons.

But not even Quentin Tarantino could have scripted the drama that would play out on the hallowed turf of Sydney Olympic Stadium that afternoon.

The match

The Bulldogs raced to a 10-0 lead in the 13th minute courtesy of tries to Curtis Rona and Sam Perrett.

A penalty try on the stroke of half time brought the Rabbitohs back into the clash. They went into the sheds trailing only 10-8.

Josh Morris scored for the Doggies in the 51st minute, before David Tyrell responded for the Bunnies on the hour mark. Reynolds kicked a monster 45m penalty goal in the 74th to level it 16-all.

Then the real drama began.

From a deep kick-off, the Bunnies knocked on in-goal, but several Bulldogs players got caught out when Reynolds took a quick drop out. They took the first hit-up well inside their own half.

A couple of big runs up the guts against a tired Bunnies defence got them into field goal range before Trent Hodkinson calmly slotted the kick. 17-16.

Keary thought the game was all over at that point.

"We were just hanging on ... I was playing hooker, we'd had a few injuries, we were barely hanging on," he recalled.

From the restart, the Bunnies could only get as far as the Bulldogs' 40m line when Keary threw the pass to Reynolds.

James Graham had read the play perfectly. He timed his run off the back fence to perfection and burst through the defensive line in time with the play-the-ball.

Reynolds got the kick away, but it was a wobbly one that never threatened the posts.

But sprinting through to charge down the kick, Graham landed on Reynolds' legs. The weight of both men went through his knees and ankles.

As Reynolds lay in agony, Graham immediately signalled for assistance. Referee Gerard Sutton blew time off. The stoppage in play gave the video referee a moment to review the contact.

The call

In the Nine commentary box, only Sterling thought it was a penalty. Phil Gould, Ray Warren, and Andrew Johns disagreed.

Surprisingly, so did Keary.

"I remember at the time going, 'f---, I don't think there's anything wrong with that'," he recalled.

"Now I look at it and go: 'Oh, that's bad', but at the time I didn't think it was too bad. I remember thinking (Graham) was unlucky because he was going for the ball."

Eventually the penalty was awarded, and because it was foul play in the action of a field goal attempt, the kick would be taken from dead in front of the posts.

"That's a big, big call," Gould said in commentary.

Graham was clearly furious, but looked as if he was initially trying to keep his composure. That lasted about a quarter of a second.

Klemmer missed the memo altogether.

"You're f---ing off your face mate, that's embarrassing," he screamed at Sutton, who unsurprisingly threw him straight in the bin for dissent.

Graham continued to unleash hell as he walked back towards the line. Josh Reynolds was probably just as furious. But 'Grub' did a very un-Grub thing and took himself out of the melting pot before he joined Klemmer in the bin.

"I was fuming ... I may have said something myself and I was like, 'you can't say that' so I walked off," he said to Fox League.

"It was very unlike me actually… I'm proud of myself.

"I was around and I could see those two boys going off so I was like, 'it's not good for me to be here'.

"It was obviously a penalty, but at that time, you're like, 'no, it's Good Friday, we're not losing on that'. And the thing with Jimmy, it's an effort play and he obviously didn't mean it.

"He's not going for his leg, but it's a penalty in the law of the game. But yeah, it was just so hard to take.

"I remember Klemmer … I don't know what he was saying but (the ref) goes 'hold on, you can't say that. You're gone'.

"I remember it right now. I'm picturing James Graham's eyes. That was anger, that's anger 101. But I can't blame him."

With Reynolds down, Bryson Goodwin slotted the extras. 18-17.

Bulldogs fans were put further offside when Josh Morris looked as if he'd been pushed in the back and out of a contest for the short kick off, but no call was made.

When the full time siren rang out, a chorus of boos echoed through the stadium.

Jimmy's side

A decade on, Graham said it was a snide comment from a Rabbitohs trainer who had come to Reynolds' aid that fired him up.

He's torn on what influence the exchange had on the final outcome, but is sure he shouldn't have even put himself in the situation in the first place.

"I was genuinely going for the ball, which was really a stupid play," Graham admitted on the Bye Round podcast this week.

"Reyno, as good as he is, it was around the 40m mark. A field goal on a rainy day? Even if I'd said 'go for it Reyno, do your best', I don't think he's kicking it.

"But I've gone in, tried to be a hero and block it, missed the ball. I did take him out, that's undeniable. But I thought that was an unfortunate consequence of that action.

"I called to the Souths trainer, and then the trainer has said something to me ... I can't remember exactly what words he used, but he was really dismissive of me.

"I was like 'mate, I'm trying to help you out here', so that set the trigger."

Then he realised he was being penalised, and it was right in front of the uprights.

"I was already in a heightened state when I've gone and approached (the referee)," Graham explained.

"But ... I'd already used some emotional energy in the exchange with the Souths trainer. So did he ignite that, where I went and approached the referee in the state that I was? Or did I burn some of that off and I would've been even worse?

At the end of the day, Graham said the responsibility is all on him.

"I hold my hand up and say 'I got it wrong that day'. I cost us the two points."

Andrew Johns maintains to this day it shouldn't have been a penalty, but speaking on Nine's Freddy and the Eighth, conceded Reynolds was "lucky he didn't get a compound fracture of his leg".

After all, Graham was trying to charge the kick down. Johns said it was an "accident".

"An accident? It nearly broke his leg!" Brad Fittler replied.

Johns: "He didn't mean to."

Fittler: "Dead set, mate that's just illegal."

Reynolds would somehow miss only three weeks of footy, but would suffer a broken thumb on his comeback and miss the following month.

The aftermath

Keary said the minutes after the siren went were nothing short of chaotic.

Sutton and his fellow refs tried to make a swift exit from the ground as a deluge of bottles and other projectiles rained down on them from the stands.

"I just remember the fans just hurling abuse down ... it was mayhem, absolute bedlam," Keary said.

"It was always volatile playing against the Dogs. I love them because their fans are so passionate, but they were always volatile.

"I remember they had to escort us back through the tunnel, then we were all trying to call our families to see if they got out of the stadium OK."

Grub admitted seeing footage of the incident angered the Bulldogs playing group.

"I remember seeing footage of someone falling over and look, we all were very, very angry, but that was very, very uncalled for," he said.

"We can't have that stuff in our game. But that's just the Bulldogs passion… they're James Graham in the stands."

Keary said it was the most "crazy" game he played in until the infamous Sin Bin Sunday - the 2022 elimination final clash between the Roosters and Rabbitohs.

On Freddy and the Eighth, Fittler said the sights of bottles flying onto the field was terrible from the fans, but served as a reminder of the strong passion they hold.

The 2025 edition

Several factors indicate the 2025 edition could be another stunner.

Upwards of 70,000 people are expected to pack the stands.

The Bulldogs are undefeated and sit atop the NRL ladder.

The Sydney weather forecast is sensational - 25 degrees and sunny - and the Doggies are offering tickets from as little as $10.

Expect fireworks.