What a moment! To watch the crowd erupt and storm the field when the ref blew full time after Sam Bright’s penalty goal will forever be the greatest feeling of accomplishment.

To be part of the reason that brought so much happiness to a community makes me feel so proud of myself, my team mates and my coaching staff.

So a big thank you goes out to those in the community for your endless support, the women involved in the club, to our juniors who make us feel like superstars. To JD and the committee, Tony and the Burwood, to the old boys who have made the proud club what it is today – thank you.

To those involved this year in the club, another big thank you for making it one of the most memorable. Thanks to all the coaching staff, thanks to Cannons, Sonya, Carry, Dave and Sam on the support team.

Congrats to P3 on their huge win! A shout out to the boys in that squad that didn’t get the opportunity to take the field.

And to the P1 team, in the famous words of Michael Dann – “we f…king did it”

A two year campaign capped off with sweet victory. A gutsy win that had gritty defence and composure in attack, we always felt in control.

It’s been a pleasure to work with a group of men that gave me as much respect as I gave them.

We finally did it. Years of hard work and sweat went into that match played on the 24th of September. Hours of dedication from so many, not only the 23 that took the field that day. A dream come true for so many people. I couldn’t be prouder of this club and what we have achieved this year, we deserve it. I truly believe we are the current benchmark for local rugby in the competition. It only takes one look at the hill that swelled at No.2 last Saturday to tell, we are truly a community.

I would personally like to thank all of our supporters, our coaches, the old boys, our sponsors and the committee, for all they have contributed towards bringing those trophy’s home to Townson Oval. The tireless hours committed by these people for the pure love of our club is admirable. I have had the opportunity to witness what goes on behind the scenes this year and it has opened my eyes to what extent a rugby club extends. It has made me realise, how much is required in order for us to get on the paddock. It is truly appreciated. This trophy is for you guys, it is for the young guys and girls who one day dream to win a premiership for The Greens, who get to every game and chase the ball. I remember it all from 2011 and it made this moment so much sweeter, it felt exactly the way I dreamt it would.

I arrived at the ground reasonably early not thinking I was too nervous. I was sitting there tapping my legs uncontrollably and Dan Watling gave me the “you nervous mate?” I responded with a grin.

Into the sheds we went and a couple of other boys expressed their nerves so I tried to hide mine. We went out and had the best warm up we have had all year.

Walking out of the tunnel we had a blue wall lined up that seemed to go forever. There were “booos” in our ears and a few fine words from our enemy’s supporters.

Once we hit that field we immediately knew where our supporters were. That roar of support was exceptionally loud. A few boys responded by asking for a louder roar.

Lining up for the kick off was the loudest crowd I’d ever heard and I would say arguably the loudest any 3rd grade team has heard.

The rest is history winning the premiership in style.

Thank you to every person on that hill or in the crowd cheering us on. Your support truly made us put in extra efforts when it counted.

Running out and from the first whistle to the last the constant roar of the green wave was clear to the players and gave us a lift every time we needed it.

Thanks to everyone for the calls, social media and in person support. The playing group really appreciate it and they’re memories we’ll treasure.

Results like that come from a whole year of effort from players, coaches, support staff, administration and supporters all working with common purpose to achieve the best for the Club and that is what makes it so satisfying. Thank you all for your various contributions this year.

I was in the grandstand on full time of P1 and I will never forget the scene with that tsunami size Green Wave breaking over the ground and swamping our players and coaches and sharing the joy of this win.

And a few more things:

• Congratulations to Rhys Bray who has been consistently excellent all year and was awarded the John Hipwell Medal for best player in the GF
• Sam Bright finished P1 Top Points Scorer
• Jamie Lind was awarded Coach of the Year
• The Club was awarded the Tooheys Club of the Year and the Kia Toa Shield and the most club points in the Anderson Medal

One of our strengths is that we are one integrated Club.

These Senior results together with those of our Juniors this season (which included 5 GF wins) indicate that we have great momentum building across the whole Club. We are working very closely with the Junior Committee to develop a continuous pathway through junior to senior rugby. The depth of talent and skills building at all levels of the Club makes me very optimistic about our future.

Despite our Minor Premiership we went into the Grand Final as the underdogs, after all Hamilton had been on this stage for many years and every time overcame the best that their opposition could throw at them.

The game kicked off at the unusual time of 3.40 and a fast start was vital, after all we had given Hamilton a 21 point start in the Major Semi before we got into the game and we needed to learn from that mistake. The lesson was learned and the early stages of the game saw us dominate field position. The dominance eventually led to a hole opening up and Eli McCulloch dummied and reached over for the first try. This set the scene for what was to come, as most of us are still amazed that our tenacious halfback was even there after the hip dislocation suffered in our first clash of the season with Hamilton. There was a justice with him scoring this opener. Sam Bright converted and despite a hiccup a few minutes later when Hamilton levelled the scores, the remaining sixty minutes was all the Greens.

Our team were patient, calm and controlled, never flustered when they were under pressure and every time one of the Hamilton big ball runners charged forward there was a green wall in front of them. The defence was outstanding, as it has been all year and it eventually won the day. The pressure told, the penalties came our way and the trusty right boot of Sam Bright extended the lead regularly throughout the second half.

Including last year’s covid interrupted season with this year, we went into the Grand Final having played 31 games with 27 wins, 3 loses and a draw. We had 2 consecutive minor premierships and were clearly the favourites to win the title. To use an old sporting cliche “The only team that could beat us was ourselves”. We needed more discipline than we showed in the major semi when we had 2 players in the sin bin at the same time. We spoke to the players many times leading up to the game about not giving the opposition any piggy backs.

Another cliche is that “defence wins Grand Finals”. In the last 3 games of the season we beat Maitland 55-0, Wanderers 14-0 in the major semi and again 29-3 in the GF. That is 3 consecutive games without a try being scored against us, or 3 hours of rugby.

I banged on all year to the team about being well drilled, about being relentless and it all came together on the day. We did go too wide too quickly a lot of the time, but it didn’t matter in the end. It was a tight battle until 11 minutes to go in the game with us up 10-3, where a converted try ties things up. They won an ugly line out on half way and knocked on out in the backs. We scooped it up and with patience built pressure over two and a half minutes and 15 phases, to have another Colt, Austin Zander charge over for a try near the posts! In 3 minutes we had scored another having broken their will and scored again 4 minutes later with Max swan diving over to put it all to bed!