Gundagai playmaker Chris Rose dedicated his match-winning performance for the Tigers' reserve grade side on Sunday to his late brother, Joseph.
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Rose was in almost everything in Gundagai's 28-8 win against Young, scoring one try and laying on two more for fullback Kyle Ramage.
The win brought the Burmeister Shield back to Gundagai for the first time since 2016, and brought back memories of that premiership for Rose.
"I just want to dedicate this to my little brother, Joseph Rose, who I lost last year," Rose said.
"(I was) lucky enough to win a grand final here with him. I also got man of the match on that day but I still stand that he deserved it, so I'll dedicate this one to him as well."
Rose shared in this one with older brother Matt.
"I've won a couple of premierships with my brother. He's 38, he's never far off the best player on the park. I don't know how he does but it's unreal to win it for him," he said.
Matt, running an inside angle off Chris, then produced a beautiful flick pass out the back for Ramage to complete a hat-trick and virtually guarantee Gundagai victory, with a 24-4 lead and 10 minutes to play.
Earlier, Chris had twice found a hard-running Ramage with a short ball for tries, as Gundagai wore Young down and then put points on the board for their effort.
They led 12-0 at half-time before Young's Matt Murray put the Cherrypickers within eight with a nice solo effort, regathering his own grabber, shortly after the break.
But the Ramage and Roses show rolled on, with the fullback scoring the next two.
Young threw everything at it late, including Jason Brown finishing a beautiful movement for a try in the corner. But the Tigers were determined to go back to the top, having won three reserve grade grand finals from 2014-16, and as the 'Pickers pushed passes chasing an unlikely comeback, centre Tarron Makeham pounced on a loose ball to regain the 20-point margin.
"We've come a long way," coach Mark Elphick said.
"We were pretty much rock bottom (after 2016). We never made the finals after that,and through the year we had a few rough patches. First grade were short on players, we were short on players, but deep down we knew we had the experience and if we got everyone back on deck, which we have for the last month, we knew we were going to give it a good crack."
Elphick said the week off last week helped his side to come in fresh.
But the spirit in the Tigers was obvious when they celebrated defending their tryline as heavily as when they scored.
"A lot of older blokes, it will probably be their last hurrah. I reckon there'll be at least half-a-dozen who'll call it quits with a premiership under their wing so, you can't complain about that. It's unreal," Elphick said.
He paid tribute to Ramage.
"It was his first game at fullback for the year, since Will Herring got suspended and he's only been back for the last three weeks. He was outstanding," Elphick said.
It was a fourth premiership for Elphick, who was part of Gundagai's 2015 and 2018 first grade wins, as well as 2016 in reserve grade.
The result made Gundagai's day, having seen their Weissel Cup and Sullivan Cup sides go down to Young.
FULL-TIME
GUNDAGAI 28 (Kyle Ramage 3, Chris Rose, Tarron Makeham tries; Mark Eccleston 4 goals) d YOUNG 8 (Matt Murray, Jason Brown tries)
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