MJR Electrics outpaced and outplayed minor premiers, Quolls, in the men’s premier league grand final to claim the title on Monday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Electrics’ captain-coach Brocke Argus won best on ground, working with fellow playmaker Campbell Lovell to set up a decisive 16-6 win.
For Electrics, the back-end of the season was a tough slog.
They were short on players, most weeks only just fielding a team of six, but perseverance has paid off.
Argus was buoyed to see the team claim their first premiership since Electrics formed three seasons ago.
“It was all a learning process the first few years, and it was a bit of a surprise to get to the final last year but it’s well-deserved,” he said.
“We’ve been a bit short all year with injuries, a couple of boys working away which is a bit hard, but we all stuck to the game plan and came through with it.”
Argus was proud of his team’s strong performance, but he would have been just as happy with a one-point win.
“It’s never really good to win convincingly, you always want a spectacle, you always want people interested,” he said.
At half time it was anyone’s game, 7-6 to Electrics, the Quolls were confident they could turn the score in their favour.
But Electrics’ Lovell, Nathan Batkin and Matt Rava put on show-stopping displays, charging past defenders, running the length of the field, chased by Callum and Cade Price, to either score or make serious ground.
Quolls, on the other hand, seized up in attack, physically exhausted from chasing their rivals, and mentally deflated by the gap on the scoreboard.
Quolls played without the league’s Most Valuable Player, awarded on the night to Australian representative player Jordan Little who watched nervously, sidelined due to a back injury.
Argus isn’t resting on his laurels, he’s rallying more troops for next season, to generate more premier league teams.
“Hopefully I can talk to a few younger captains and get a few of the players filtering through to the higher grade of touch, because we’ve only ever had four or five teams,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll have six or seven, more competition, a bigger spread.
“Hopefully these kids can learn a bit, it’s a good pathway to NRL.”
He listed touch players, Little, Tyson McLachlan and Dylan McLachlan who have played trial matches for NRL clubs, and Ryan Cronin, Jack Flood, Kade Price and Edan Price who have all played different capers of NRL as examples of Wagga success stories.