A goal in the grand final capped off a special day for Jamie Rankin.
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The Lake Albert midfielder was named man of the match as the Sharks won their second title in three years with a 2-0 win over Young on Sunday.
After losing last year’s grand final Rankin was thrilled to go one better.
“It is an amazing feeling,” Rankin said.
“We won it in 2016, had the heartbreak of losing last year and to bounce back like that and be undefeated all year.
“We put in all year to get that reward.”
Rankin said the team used the last year’s dramatic penalty shootout loss as motivation to return to the top this season.
“He thought about it all off-season and it is motivation,” he said.
“We had a change of coach come in, Michael Babic was a great coach, but Mitchell Tinnock came in his his own new ideas and we’re undefeated as a coach and undefeated as a team.
“You couldn’t ask for better.”
Scoring the side’s first goal to take advantage of their early dominance was just the icing on the cake for the man named the Sharks best for the last two years.
Off a Fred Gardner cross, the ball moved around the box behind Rankin delivered a punishing strike.
“It was good to get on the score sheet and the first one is always important,” he said.
“I don’t score too many but it was nice to bang one in on the big stage.”
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