"Death, taxes and Adam Watson."
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OVA coach Tim Coates delivered that great line after the side's penalty-shootout grand final defeat of Tamworth FC at a wet and wild Scully Park on Saturday night.
Watson - 40 years old and playing his final top-grade match - converted the winning goal in the penalty shootout, after it remained 1-1 at the end of extra time.
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Presumably, Coates meant that Watson rising to the occasion was as certain as death and taxes.
He could have said the same thing about death, taxes and the storm that moved ominously towards Tamworth on Saturday - before wrecking havoc at the end of the first half (the match was delayed about an hour).
Watson was unaware he had the chance to slot the match-winning penalty goal (it ended up 3-1 in the shootout).
"To be honest, I was so scared: I don't usually like taking them. But as a senior player, and with everyone else injured, I stuck my hand up."
It was a dream way for Watson - who coached Mushies to their debut top-grade title, in 2008 - to farewell the Premier Division.
He plans to play reserve grade at Mushies in 2021, to help nurture the talent of his 14-year-old son, Toby, and then retire.
A long-term avid traveller, Watson loves taking Toby and his 11-year-old daughter, Darcy, on trips - at home and aboard.
In fact, he was going to sit out this season - or at least have a truncated season - because he planned to take his kids to South Korea and on "a couple other little trips". But COVID-19 put paid to that plan.
"Me and the kids travel every year. This will be the first year since they've been born that they won't be overseas."
As for playing in 2020, Watson said: "I didn't know if I had another year in me, at 40, this year."
His debut top-grade grand final was in 1995, when his Hillvue Rovers lost to North Companions. Wayne May, who coached Tamworth FC this season, was Rovers' goalkeeper.
Watson said OVA finished Saturday's clash with no bench "because everyone was just cramping up".
And even if OVA could not break the 1-1 deadlock, he continued, they were confident keeper Josh Magann would get the job done.
"He's the best in the league, and he pulled off some tremendous saves," Watson said. "And we just had to keep our nerve, to finish it."
