![The Jacob Shaw and Michael Pearce-coached Thirsty Thirds will fly the flag for the Magpies in Saturday's New England grand finals. The Jacob Shaw and Michael Pearce-coached Thirsty Thirds will fly the flag for the Magpies in Saturday's New England grand finals.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/8215fe13-8520-4a05-9883-d40c4fe208a2.jpg/r0_26_1440_836_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
They've jokingly nicknamed themselves 'the juggernauts', and on Saturday, Tamworth's third grade men's side will be hoping to soar to grand final glory.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The last team standing from the Magpies' four-pronged finals assault, they will take on minor premiers St Albert's as the New England premiers for 2023 are decided.
"It's pretty exciting," co-coach Jacob Shaw said.
Not fielding a third grade side last season, he said it has been really good to have it back this year.
"It's been good fun this year," he said.
"It's brought a lot of people back to the club and it's been really enjoyable."
'Thirsty Thirds', as is the common terminology, the side is a mixture of "veterans" that have been around the club for a while, players who have never played rugby before and "some older boys who have just come down for a bit of fun".
Fun being the operative word.
"I guess the best part of it third grade is there's not such a focus on training, it's more about just playing and having fun," Shaw said.
Until this time of the year anyway.
Things have gotten a bit more serious in recent weeks, which he joked everyone was "a bit taken aback" by initially. It took them a little while to get their heads around that they'd "better actually do something at training".
Chasing their second third grade premiership in four years, the Magpies will have to overturn a 3-zip record against the students this season. Although, as Shaw qualified, the last two encounters there has only been a try or two in it.
"So there's no better time to beat them than the grand final, so looking forward to it," he said.
One of he and co-coach Michael Pearce's key messages to their charges will be that they need to start well.
Two weeks ago in the major semi-final they gave Albies a 24 point head start.
While they got it back to three points, before a late try made sure of it for the students, they left themselves with a lot of work to do in the second half.
"Even though it's third grade, a grand final is still a big deal," Shaw said.
"A lot of these guys who are new to rugby we want to make it memorable for them so we'll do our best to take on the, I guess, youth of Albies."
They will kick off the grand final action at 10.40am.
TEAMS
Albies: 1 Oliver Murphy 2 Lachie Lawson 3 James Holy 4 Ethan Kruger 5 Will Freeman 6 Angus Barber 7 Tom Medway 8 Patty Davis 9 Tully Muller 10 Paddy Keady (C) 11 Liam Keady 12 Ben Donohoe (C) 13 Jack Adams 14 Olli Cook 15 Royce Carroll 16 Patrick Wheeler 17 Archie Paton 18 Tom Mitchell 19 Chris Thompson 20 Ryan Schmitt 21 Archie Chick 22 Nick Baker 23 Henry Molesworth. Coaches: Sam Webster and Nick Quinn
Tamworth: 1 Oliver McKenzie 2 Alex Fogarty 3 Nicholas Bradbery 4 Tauto Koroi 5 Aidan Dougherty 6 Bailey Rock 7 Ashley Dwyer 8 Alastair Doyle 9 Jacob Shaw (C) 10 Michael Pearce (C) 11 Michael Tutasi 12 Tusi Misi 13 Cameron Thorne 14 Ioelu Misi 15 Senirusi Rauge 16 Ben Sheedy 17 Peter Kelly 18 Liam Christian 19 Samuel Dickson 20 George Smallwood 21 Cameron Dagger 22 Luke Wallace. Coach: Michael Pearce and Jacob Shaw