The Guyra Super Spuds completed a fairy tale return to the rugby league field with a premiership win.
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In the inaugural Group 19 second division competition, the Super Spuds finished the season in second place and booked a home grand final with a major semi win over Uralla.
On Saturday, they faced the Warialda Wombats in the trophy battle and held a narrow 16-12 lead at half-time.
The Spuds raced away in the second stanza to secure the 36-24 win, despite having two in the sin bin late in the game.
“It is good to get a win on our home ground,” Spuds winger DJ Patterson said.
“We had the crowd riding us, that was just feeding us all day.
“We just had to work all year and we finally got here and we got the win.
SEE ALSO: Guyra Super Spuds player profiles
“The first-half was a bit iffy but we came out in the second-half and took control of the game and that is what won it for us.”
Halfback Anthony Dittman took over the coaching midway through the season and said it was a “well-deserved result.”
“We knew Warialda were going to come out solid and that if we were to give them a sniff they could easily get the upper hand on us,” Dittman said.
“But we werent going to allow that to happen and we dug deep and played for each other and it showed with the result, especially when we were down to 11 men – everyone stood up.
“It was great for the team and the community.
“The town stuck by us through the whole year and we repaid them with a premiership.
“We knew the team we had we could go all the way. We were confident throughout the year, although at times we did make it pretty hard for ourselves.”
Corey Torrens bagged three tries in the game and earned the player of the grand final.
Ben Vidler claimed his award for the season’s highest pointscorer while Uralla’s Paul Jackson took out the leading tryscorer award.
Ashford’s Cameron Toomey earned the Group’s best and fairest award.
In the league tag clash, an Abby Smith-try was the difference for Uralla as they claimed the Group 19 second division league tag title.
Smith crossed late in the game to seal a 6-2 win for her side against the Walcha Jillaroos.
Fullback Lauren Acton was named player of the grand final.
Winger Sophie Barraclough claimed her leading tryscorer award on the day.