Northern Jets coach Jack Harper proud despite seven-point grand final loss to The Rock-Yerong Creek

The Jets' fairytale story finished one win short of the perfect ending but they lost no admirers in their seven-point grand final loss to The Rock-Yerong Creek at Robertson Oval on Saturday.

The Jets fought and kept coming right until the end but were unable to run down the Magpies.

"We're all pretty gutted obviously," Harper said.

"I thought we were a red hot chance today and in all honesty, we played good patches of footy at times but The Rock were the team to beat all year, they deserve this as much as anyone.

"Credit to Brad (Aiken) and Heath (Russell) and what they've been able to achieve this year, they deserve that I think."

Harper was proud the way the Jets went about their business on Saturday, and throughout the year, despite falling just short.

"I'm super proud of what the boys were able to achieve for the whole season, we're a special club out there, we're a special community, we all rally behind each other," he said.

"We had one of the best pre-seasons the club has had in over a decade and I think that showed everyone was willing to put in the work this year.

"The effort from all the guys throughout the year and the 21 today was pretty commendable and unfortunately we just didn't quite get the chocolates but I'm proud of the effort that we showed."

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Harper still defines the season as a success despite not getting what they turned up for on Saturday.

"I would say it's a successful season without getting that ultimate success," he said.

"To play in our first finals series since 2016 and to play in our first grand final since 2007 was a massive success in terms of the club's point of view.

"I think the positive thing is we're still relatively young, we'll keep the majority of this group here next year and hopefully bring in a couple more locals as well.

"We've set the standard now, we understand the work that needs to be done to achieve those goals and hopefully it's onwards and upwards to the next step."

The Jets usually like to get their running game up and going but neither team was able to get the game on their terms in what was a real contested battle on Saturday.

"The windy conditions made it that little bit harder to hit forwards and hit the scoreboard, there wouldn't have been many marks and set shots at goal that generally went through and that makes it a bit more a scrap-fest I suppose," he said.

"The Rock surged the footy forward a little bit better than we did, credit to their half-back line they took a lot of uncontested marks across there and stopped our drive.

"Better conditions might have suited us a little bit better but that's footy and we both had the same conditions out there today."

While they were beaten, there was arguably no more influential player on the ground than the Jets' Mitch Haddrill.

Returning after a year's 'retirement', Haddrill kicked three goals from the midfield in his first senior grand final.

"I thought Mitchell's game was as good as anyone on the ground," Harper said.

"He's a midfield bull and he kicked three goals as well today. He was our driving force, I thought he was outstanding.

"Sam Fisher was pretty good down back, Josh Avis was outstanding in the last quarter, Tom Roscarel was very good in the first quarter. We had plenty of contributors today, Brad McKinnon was very good, Jerry Lucas is always pretty handy so we had plenty but not quite enough."

Fisher only hopes this season, combined with the grand final loss, can drive his group forward next year.

"Jack Fisher, Mitch Haddrill talk about those tough years where you're only getting six to training, we had 25 blokes at Tuesday and Thursdays all year and that just sets the precedent and everyone understands we had a quality list, we had a lot of depth this year in comparison to other years, we set our standards ourselves and it was a credit to everyone that bought in but now we understand what we've got to do," he said.

"Premierships are hard to win, grand finals are hard to make but premierships are even harder to win.

"I think we'll use that as fuel and hopefully we'll be back bigger and better again next year."

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