IN one of the great grand finals Macleay Valley edged out Wauchope 25-24 in the second period of golden point extra time to secure the club's first Group Three Rugby League premiership.
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The scores were locked at 24-24 at fulltime necessitating the overtime. Halfback Aaron Ison came agonisingly close to winning the game for Wauchope when a field goal attempt from 40 metres out hit the cross bar in the first five minutes of extra time. Both sides tried to work themselves into a position to snap the one pointer but the attempts went wide.
Wauchope kicked off to start the second section of extra time and Macleay captain Sam Howe beat tackles to surge the play into Wauchope territory. The Mustangs made another charge and then halfback Anthony Cowan snapped the match winner. It was his field goal the previous match against Old Bar that earned Macleay the grand final berth.
The match was everything a grand final should be with uncompromising play for the forwards matched by moments of brilliance. There were plenty of walking wounded at fulltime.
Wauchope captain Rob Trembath has been plagued by a thigh injury all season and he was close to being a passenger by the end of the game. Trembath announced his decision to retire before the grand final.
In all the teams slogged it out for nearly 88 minutes. As was the case in the major semi, first one side, then the other appeared to have momentum. The Mustangs looked dangerous when they spun the ball wide. Wauchope kept play in tighter, with prop Carlos Kohu-Martin revelling in the heavy going.
The Blues lost second rower Matt Bird who took a heavy knock in the first exchange of the game. Bird stayed on the field for a while, but was eventually replaced and took no further part in the match.
Howe was inspirational for the Mustangs and was named player of the match while lock Richard Roberts also powered through plenty of work. The halves combination of Anthony Cowan and Mal Webster had the Wauchope defenders working overtime.
Ison was the player of the match in last season's grand final and he produced another great performance in attack, setting up three tries and scoring one himself. Dean Hurrell was smart out of dummy half while in the centres Beau Kettle did some good things.
Macleay led 18-14 at halftime but Wauchope opened the scoring when a long pass from Ison gave winger Reuben Trick space and he was over for an unconverted try. The Mustangs drew level with a try to centre Jacob Smith and then quick hands soon after saw Smith in for his second and Cowan slotted the conversion.
However, Wauchope responded when Ison held up a pass for five-eighth Nick McCabe and he crashed over. Again there was no conversion.
Ison was involved again soon after when he put in a short kick and White was on the spot to re-gather and dive over for Sam Watts to convert.
But the Mustangs finished the stronger with a try to the clever Webster and the conversion and a penalty to Cowan.
Kohu-Martin positioned centre Dustin Prosser to draw Wauchope level early in the second half and when Ison showed the ball and went through a gap the Blues were up 24-18. The Mustangs hit back with a try to prop Stever Walker and Cowan's goal secured it at 24-24.
"It was a tremendous game - one of the best we've had in years,'' Group Three president Wayne Bridge enthused after the match.