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Central, Lakes, Central, Lakes, Lakes.
That was the run home for Souths.
Playing against the only two teams above them on the competition ladder over a six-week period at the back end of the season.
It may have been tough but it steeled the Lions, who ultimately claimed the 2018 Newcastle Rugby League premiership with a 30-18 grand final win at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
“We played the top two sides the last five games, that helped us,” Souths coach Ben Cross, who enters a third term at the helm next year, said.
The Lions were also bolstered by the eventual full-time return of Knights reserve grade representatives such as Tori Freeman, Tom Cronan, Faitotoa Faitotoa and Harry van Dartel. The likes of Joey Morris, Cameron King and Henry Penn trained with the NSW Cup squad but didn’t play a game.
“They wanted to be part of it,” Cross said.
“They weren’t getting much opportunity to play [at the Knights] and they could see we were going to have a run at the finals.”
Lakes, although beaten in a tense decider, can hold their heads high after coming from the same elimination semi against Souths 12 months ago and being crowned minor premiers.
Central, despite bowing out of the finals in straight sets, were second overall by a point and claimed the club championship for the first time since 1949. Never before had the Butcher Boys held the Mal Woodford Trophy, which was introduced 11 years later.
Maitland made big improvements and were the major casualty of the closeness of this year’s competition – finishing one win away from top spot before dropping to fourth and being bundled out in the opening week of play-offs.
Further highlighting the evenness experienced across the board, perennial powerhouse Wests missed the semis for the first time since 1979 but were only one win away from the five and two wins off back-to-back minor premierships.
Even the wooden spoon was still up for grabs in a dramatic, all-encompassing last round. Cessnock staved off defending champions Macquarie.
And what about Kurri? Last 12 months ago, sneaking into finals on four must wins before going within one game of the club’s second decider in 23 years.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Was the competition’s leading try scorer, finishing with 21 from 16 appearances and featuring 19 in nine straight matches from July 1 to September 2. There were two hat-tricks and five doubles.
The former Knights under-18 representative knows where to pop up at the right time in both attack and defence. Excellent kick chase, many resulting in four pointers. The Lions fullback is a game changer.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Ron Griffiths (Kurri): Wooden spoon to 80 minutes away from a grand final appearance – super effort that.
Lost arguably his best player, Terence Seu Seu, and had a string of major injuries to key personnel throughout the course of the season, but built self-belief in his young charges.
Re-signed for next year just before finals series.
With high quality coaching across the board plenty of contenders for this one, including Cross (major premiers), Lakes’ Todd Edwards (minor premiers) and Maitland’s Luke Dorn in his maiden campaign.
DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE YEAR
Macquarie: From first to last. Quite the dramatic and unexpected drop after featuring in three consecutive deciders. But just 12 months after experiencing the highs of breaking a 26-year premiership drought, the Scorpions felt the lows of collecting the dreaded wooden spoon.
Cessnock: Finished second last on the competition ladder and struggled to gain any real traction this year despite the Goannas recruiting former NRL trio Paul Carter, Chanel Mata’utia and Riley Brown.
TEAM OF THE YEAR
Fullback – Lachlan Walmsley (Souths): Was the pick of a very talented bunch of custodians.
Wingers – Cameron Anderson (Central), Harry van Dartel (Souths): Natural try scorers and never-say-die attitudes.
Centres – Josh Charles (Lakes), Simon Williams (Central): Experienced campaigners who keep performing.
Halves – Jade Porter (Kurri), Brad Murray (Central): Steered their teams around the park with distinction.
Props – Shaun Boss (Lakes), Cameron King (Souths): Big, mobile and tough to handle up the middle.
Hooker – Adam Clydsdale (Maitland): Received the Newcastle player of the year award and for good reason.
Second-row – Matt Herman (Wests), Tylar Carter (Maitland): Quiet achievers, but deliver quality work.
Lock – Tori Freeman (Souths): Injured for grand final, but was a major part of the Lions’ premiership push.
Bench – Daniel Peck (Lakes), Kahn Juhnke (Kurri), Brendan Hlad (Cessnock), Simon Allen (Macquarie): A pocket rocket and three uncompromising forwards.
