Sunday afternoon at Leichardt Oval, the sun shining and a healthy crowd of close to nine thousand in attendance, saw the Canterbury Bulldogs defeat the Newtown Jets in an absolute thriller of an Intrust Super Premiership NSW Grand Final.
Both teams took to the field with a smattering of NRL experienced players along with some bright prospects for the future for the two clubs.
For the Jets there was centre Aaron Gray, winger Sione Katoa, props Kurt Dillon and Ava Seumanufagai along with Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan's son, halfback Kyle Flanagan.
The Bulldogs had NRL players in centre John Olive, halfback Fa'amanu Brown, props Renouf To'omaga and Francis Tualau, back rowers Ofahiki Ogden, Rhyse Martin and Greg Eastwood along with interchange forwards Lachlan Burr and Chris Smith.
The match began evenly with both sides working the ball into the opposition half through strong forward runs and cleaver kicking games by the halves.
The Bulldogs relied heavily on talented five-eighth and former Queensland Intrust Cup Grand Final winner, Josh Cleeland, who looked to be everywhere, cleaning up grubber kicks by the Newtown halves and setting up his outside men with some cleaver passing. The Dogs were without the talented Matt Frawley and Lachlan Lewis who missed the game through injury.
The Jets were well serviced by their up and coming halves pair of Jack Williams and Flanagan who both worked to steer the Newtown side around the park with intelligent kicking and passing games.
Both teams were also well served by their young dummy halves, Blayke Brailey for Newtown, the young brother of Cronulla NRL hooker Jayden Brailey and Zac Woolford for the Dogs, the nephew of former Canberra Raiders star hooker, Simon Woolford, who was awarded the Man Of The Match.
The forward packs from both teams ran hard and each looked like they would not be out of place in the NRL.
The teams were evenly matched throughout the game and there was a lot to like from both sides for the fans of Cronulla and Canterbury.
The Jets took the early lead through tries to the speedy Sione Katoa and talented half Flanagan with Flanagan landing one successful conversion. The Dogs struck back late in the first half with Brown crossing the line for a try and Cleeland kicking the conversion.
The second half saw much of the same intensity and desperation from both teams as they battled to gain ascendancy over their opposition.
Canterbury scored first with a try to winger Bergamin after a cleaver cut out pass from Zac Woolford with the talented and tireless PNG rep, Rhys Martin landing the conversion from the sideline, giving the Dogs a 12-10 lead.
The game was then all tied up with a Kyle Flanagan penalty goal in the 66th minute, sending the game into a desperate and thrilling final quarter hour of play.
Then in one of the clutch moments of the match junior Kiwi centre, Moran Harper, stole the ball from the experienced Matt Evans in a one on one strip and ran twenty metres to score in the right hand corner to give Canterbury a 16-12 lead.
The usually ever reliable Martin missed the conversion however kicked a penalty goal soon after to give the Bulldogs an 18-12 lead and that was the score five minutes later when the fulltime siren sounded.
A tough Grand Final that gives the fans of both senior NRL sides much to be excited about for the 2019 season with so many talented emerging players on display for the teams.
For the Bulldogs the likes of centre Morgan Harper, winger Jayden Okunbor, five-eight Josh Cleeland, hooker Zac Woolford and back rowers Ofahiki Ogden and Rhyse Martin look to have bright futures ahead.
For the Jets, keep an eye on fullback Will Kennedy, winger Sione Katoa, five-eight Jack Williams, half-back Kyle Flanagan, hooker Blayke Brailey and back rowers Briton Nikora, Anthony Moraitis, Jaimin Jolliffe and Billy Magoulias who are ones to look out for.
The match was the last in Newtown colours for prop Kurt Dillon who is heading to Souths next year. The game also sees the departure of veteran Greg Eastwood who is unwanted by the Bulldogs for 2019 and he is tipped to be heading to the English Super League.
It was not a total loss for Cronulla fans with their Jersey Flegg side winning the 20's Grand Final earlier in the afternoon, 22-12 over a talented Penrith team.
Canterbury-Bankstown 18 (Brown, Bergamin, Harper tries, Martin 2 conversions and 1 penalty goal), Newtown 12 (Katoa, Flanagan tries, Flanagan 1 conversion and 1 penalty goal).
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