Slumped in a chair outside Boggabri's dressing room at the Kootingal Recreation Reserve, Matt Gillham was at the mercy of devastation.
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The Roos skipper must have wondered how it had come to this; how his side had relinquished a commanding lead against Kootingal-Moonbi, before a Roosters try after the full-time siren and Brayden Jerrard's golden-point penalty goal secured the Roosters a miracle 34-32 victory.
The win on a cold and windy Saturday afternoon was celebrated as if it were a premiership triumph, with four-try hero Billy Nean mobbed by Kooty players and supporters post-match.
Nean also provided a rushed cross-field kick, after he had turned on a dim, that resulted in fellow centre Liam Hatch pouncing on the ball and racing away to score after the full-time siren. Jerrard then slotted the simple conversion to send the pulsating encounter into extra time.
To be sure, it was a win for the ages. And it moved the Roosters into second place on the ladder as they chase their debut first-grade premiership, in a year that began with the news that they had lost a host of key players in the off-season.
!["Amazing. It's the best feeling" ... Billy Nean. Picture by Mark Bode "Amazing. It's the best feeling" ... Billy Nean. Picture by Mark Bode](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/263c009e-3b52-4897-8ad9-e2e7a9be2215.jpg/r0_0_3139_2337_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"I can't believe it," Nean said of Saturday's triumph, in which Jerrard's cool match-winning strike - taken from 18 metres out and just to the right of the posts - was the only time the home side led in the contest.
"I've never played a game like that in my life - ever," Nean said. "Amazing. It's the best feeling. We've got more to come, more to give."
"That's football; that's what we love," he said, adding that he was "over the moon".
"Proud of all the boys, too, not just me," he continued, then replied "110 per cent" when asked if the Roosters could go all the way in 2024.
Moments later, a seated Gillham raised his weary head and told the Leader that he was in no condition to give an interview.
![Josefa Biv gets airborne en route to the tryline. Picture by Mark Bode Josefa Biv gets airborne en route to the tryline. Picture by Mark Bode](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/1ae59bad-1ddb-4b7f-8cc4-c8dcbddd3b71.jpg/r0_0_2277_1815_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Rewind about an hour and the No. 9 led his teammates off the field at half-time with Boggabri up 16-0.
And then eight minutes into the second half, following sudden back-to-back tries to Fijian big man Josefa Biv and Fijian flyer Pita Rogosau, the visitors were up 28-6.
That's when Roosters No.7 Jordan Sharpe and Nean combined to orchestrate a major momentum shift. First, Sharpe burrowed over from dummy half, then fired two tracer-bullet passes for Nean to cross: 28-20.
The Kangaroos hit back in the 70th minute when Rogosau scooped up a loose ball to power away and score, before Nean crashed over in the 76th minute to set up the thrilling finish.
Boggabri coach Shane Rampling bemoaned what he said was a 19-5 penalty count against his outfit, who remained in fifth place (they are three points behind Kooty).
"We had opportunities to ice the game [and] we didn't," he said. "But a 19-5 penalty count. How do you win a game when you've gotta defend that many sets?"