Mounties are 2015 Ron Massey Cup Premiers after a near-perfect season, with a convincing 30-14 win over the Asquith Magpies.
Kurt Robinson’s outstanding performance resulted in man of the match honors, while John Kennedy was lethal at fullback for Mounties, as he scored a try, and had a hand in three more.
Mounties had to face the uphill battle of playing the majority of the match without their halfback and captain, Jake Walsh - who split his head open in a heavy collision.
Kennedy is extremely proud of how his players stepped up after losing such an important member of their team, and credited his outstanding performance to his teammates.
“Walsh has led us around all year,” Kennedy said. “To lose him in the Grand Final was pretty hard, but the boys dug in and got the job done.
“These boys make it easy for me, I just do my job at the back and it came off today. I’m speechless, you play all year for this and I couldn’t be happier.”
The opening 20 minutes of the game saw Mounties dominate field position and possession, and two potential tries went begging.
They finally got on the board when Sam Duggan floated an outstanding cut-out pass from dummy half to Wayne Dargan, who strolled over untouched.
The Magpies hit back to 6-all with a long-range effort just six minutes later, when Brad Wall put in a grubber for Mick Pearsall to show his speed to get around Sam Aiga, regain possession and score.
Gus Aiga reclaimed the lead for Mounties with seven minutes remaining in the half as they spread the ball to the left as Kennedy threaded a grubber through for the winger to score.
Duggan reached over to score shortly afterwards, but knocked the ball on in the process of scoring.
On the stroke of halftime, Sam Aiga failed to handle a pass that could have led to a try scoring opportunity, which meant the halftime score remained at 10-6 to Mounties.
The Magpies began the second half on the attack thanks to a Kennedy error, however an inside pass gone wrong allowed Dave Cahalane to pick up a loose ball and run the length of the field to increase Mounties’ lead to 16-6.
An incredible Wall offload to Jack Hawkins led to an amazing Magpies try. Hawkins attempted to kick after Wall put him away, but the ball got caught up in a Mounties defender and found its way into the hands of Aaron Groom, who drifted across field and passed to Adam Kalcina. He then got the ball away for Greg Davis to finish in the corner.
A costly kickoff error invited Mounties straight back on the attack, which led to a Blake Ritchie try in the left corner after a wonderful cut-out pass by Kennedy.
Kennedy repeated his efforts in the 62nd minute after he fractured the Magpies’ defensive line with another incredible pass, which allowed Dargan to muscle his way over for his second try.
Kennedy sealed the Ron Massey Cup premiership with a try in the 72nd minute after he supported a Dargan linebreak, while Jeco Makatoa scored a consolation try for the Magpies shortly afterwards.
Mounties 30 (W Dargan 2, J Kennedy, D Cahalane, B Ritchie, G Aiga tries; J Walsh 2, S Dugan goals) bt Asquith Magpies 14 (G Davis, J Makatoa, M Pearsall tries; J Hawkins goal)
