Gerringong Lions crowned champions of Group 7 rugby league for 2023 in dramatic grand final: 70+ photos
A memorable day in the illustrious history of the Gerringong Lions. Hear from first grade coach Scott Stewart after his side came from behind in typical Lions fashion to claim grand final glory. 70+ PHOTOS.
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Scott Stewart had mighty shoes to fill when he stepped into the head coach role of Gerringong in the place of the great Mick Cronin.
In his first grand final appearance in 2022, his side went down by two points to the Warilla-Lake South Gorillas.
One year on, Stewart’s Lions flipped that around into a two point victory in the big dance against the Shellharbour Sharks, in a win that epitomises the kind of club Gerringong is.
“There’s a bit of history to that kind of game, if you look back at a lot of the competitions we’ve won, we’ve been behind in the last five minutes,” Stewart said.
“Lucky for us there’s a lot of experience in that side who have been there before and knew they could do it again.”
It was a typical grand final between two heavyweights of the competition, with the best defence in the comp in the Sharks going up against the best performing team of the last decade in the Lions.
How fitting it was that the last action of the game saw the ball go over the touchline right in front of the delirious Gerringong supporters who mobbed their players in celebration.
“We get that nearly every week, it’s a town that just loves its footy,” Stewart said.
“There were players in that squad who were ball boys for us ten or so years ago and have stuck with the club.
“You look at some of the young ball boys who got to live in that moment on the weekend, those kids might be there in a few years.”
Stewart admits he thought his side had “dug themselves into a hole” during the game as the Sharks held them in their own end during the second half, eventually taking the lead through Isaac Morris.
“We knew that patience was going to be key,” Stewart said.
“We knew they were the best defensive side and opportunities would be few, so we had to work really hard for each other.
“The message at half time was to not try invent anything, keep doing what we know works for us.”
Taj Ford was a loss early in the second half for Lions after reaggravating an existing leg injury, replaced by Nicholas Quinn who put in an admirable performance having only just recovered from a syndesmosis injury himself.
Stewart had big praise for his back three in particular in fullback Wesley Pring and wingers Liam Holland and Benjamin Grant for their consistency under the high ball and in returning kicks. Pring also picked up an early cork injury which had him operating at less than 100%, but “replacing him wasn’t an option” according to Stewart having already lost Ford.
It was a truly memorable day in Lions history having taken out the reserve grade grand final as well, a reminder of their strength and resilience having also gone down in the reserve grade final a year earlier.
“We used as many as 36 players in first grade this year,” Stewart said.
“It was a real club effort this year, with so many people chipping in and helping us to get to that position.”
Match day wrap:
The Gerringong Lions have emerged as champions of Group 7 first grade rugby league in 2023 after a dramatic 12-10 grand final victory over the Shellharbour Sharks.
It was an absolute war of wills between two competition heavyweights in sweltering conditions at Centenary Field, but it was the Lions who prevailed with a dramatic late winner, etching their name onto the Group 7 trophy for the 21st time in their history.
Chances were few and far between in the first half as both sides struggled to break each other down in the heat, but Gerringong were looking the slightly more threatening, forcing a number of goal line drop outs for the Sharks.
Hayden Buchanan threatened to break down the right, as did Liam Holland down the left when he took an intercept, but neither amounted to any end product.
Emanuel Sultana sent up a couple of testing bombs when the Sharks entered the Lions end, but Wesley Pring was safe under the high ball.
After a scoreless first 40, the breakthrough would finally come 10 minutes into the second half through the brilliance of Nicholas Quinn, dummying and shooting through a hole before flicking a miracle offload out the back to centre Hamish Holland to run in and score.
Tempers flared for the first time in the aftermath of the try celebrations with a bit of push and shove after a late hit on the tryscorer. No punishments would amount from the scuffle though.
To their credit, the Sharks responded to going down in terrific fashion, getting right up the field and testing the Lions defence straight after the try.
A massive one-on-one strip from Josh Starling would give the Sharks some great field position, and a few plays later fullback Braxton Wallace was able to dive over the try line from dummy half and level the score line.
Gerringong captain Nathan Ford looked to inspire his side to retake the lead when he took a great take off a Sharks attacking kick and ran about 60m down field, before eventually being run down by some more youthful Sharks legs.
Shortly after, it would be the Sharks that would find the lead for the first time when Isaac Morris was able to get back on the end of his own grubber kick that the Lions failed to clean up, planting it down in front of the raucous Sharks supporters.
With the minutes ticking down, it was starting to look like it was Shellharbour’s day.
The Lions would get the footy down to the other end of the park once again though and into the hands of Hamish Holland, this time charging at the line at grubbering, allowing prop forward Alexander Weir to follow it up and plant it down to score under the posts, sending the hill of Gerringong supporters delirious.
The conversion would put the Lions in front by two points with three minutes to go, to which they would hang on and see out the remaining time.
The blue and red Gerringong army of supporters flocked to the field to celebrate with their side at the conclusion of the game, a terrific moment for the club who worked hard to avenge their grand final loss one year earlier.
One sour note to conclude a truly memorable games was a bit of an unsavoury action between the two sides after the Lions fans took to the field. As seen in the above video, one Lions fan can be seen emerging from the scuffle with a bloodied mouth.
That did nothing to dampen any Gerringong spirits though as celebrations rolled on, with Hamish Holland picking up Player of the Match thanks to his involvement in both Gerringong tries and solid defensive shift out on the right edge.
“I don’t think I’ve played in a tougher game of footy in my life,” said a deflated captain James Ralphs at the conclusion of the game, as he and his Sharks side are left empty-handed after a terrific season.
First grade photo gallery
Reserve grade Lions pave the way
It would end being a Gerringong one-two sucker punch as the Lions also emerged victorious in the reserve grade final, defeating the Kiama Knights 12-10, the exact same scoreline as first grade.
The third placed Lions finished one below the Knights in the regular season, but having defeated them a few weeks earlier in the qualifying finals were never to be considered underdogs coming into the match.
It took a good half-hour of back-and-forth footy for the tryline to be breached for the first time, with Toby Nobes of the Kiama Knights finishing brilliantly in the corner to open proceedings.
This would be followed up shortly after by Jay Delany scoring under the stick after a terrific offload from halfback Thomas Murray to extend the lead to 10-0 going into the break.
Needing a bit of inspiration, Gerringong struck back when Kristian Jarrett finished in the corner off the back of a lovely lofted pass from Jack Walsh.
They would follow this up through interchange player Aaron Mulhall snagging the decisive try from a dummy half burst.
The Lions would see out the remaining 15 minutes and ultimately be crowned champions of the reserve grade for 2023.
Reserve grade photo gallery
Comeback and upset for ages in U18s
It was a shock comeback victory in the U18s as the Warilla-Lake South Gorillas emerged 24-20 winners over the Gerringong Lions.
Not only did the Gorillas prevent a Lions clean sweep of grand final day, but they also stopped the U18s side from going the entire season undefeated.
“I couldn’t believe it, to be honest,” said head coach Leigh Clark.
“We talked about it during the week though, we knew it was going to be hard and that if things didn’t go our way that we’d have to be resilient, bite down on the mouthguards a bit and turn the pressure back on them.
“To the boys‘ credit, they did just that.”
The Gorillas came out of the blocks early when star five-eighth Dreau Clark managed to toe a loose ball forward and plant it down to open the scoring.
From here though it would be dominance from Gerringong, starting off with Ben Jackson finishing a terrific team move that saw the footy go through the hands of just about the entire team.
Benjamin Steel, Cooper Harrison and Isaac Laughton would then pile on unanswered tries for the Lions to create a 20-4 lead for the seemingly unstoppable Lions.
A comeback for the ages was in the works though, starting through Player of the Match Hudson Bailey stepping his way to the line from dummy half.
Dreau Clark would add his second from dummy half shortly after, followed by Cruz Baez charging onto a short ball to level the scores and send the Gorillas fan wild.
With the minutes ticking down, Dreau Clark would send up a bomb that the Lions were unable to diffuse, only for Cruiz Sullivan to get the favourable bounce, regain and score in the corner to put the Gorillas ahead.
Dreau Clark would run the ball out on the final play and cue celebrations for his side, mobbed by all the Warilla supporters in scenes similar to their 2022 first grade win.
“It’s an amazing feeling. Everyone contributed on the day, even the interchange players came on and made a massive difference,” Clark said.
U18s photo gallery
Bulldogs inaugural champions in Open Women’s Tackle
The Milton Ulladulla Bulldogs have emerged as champions of the Group 7 Open Women’s Tackle competition after defeating the Stingrays of Shellharbour 16-4.
In doing so, the Bulldogs denied the Stingrays a chance at doing the double, having already taken out the Southern Corridor Open Women’s Tackle competition a few weeks ago.
“We walked away from the Southern Corridor competition very disappointed in our final performance knowing we were a much more capable team,” said head coach Simon Harris.
“It’s not often you get a shot at redemption, especially with a grand final premiership on the line, but the girls turned up after a few weeks off to play some good footy.
“To close out the 2023 season with the inaugural Group 7 Open Women’s Tackle premiership means a lot to the Bulldogs community.”
The Bulldogs came out of the blocks much better than the Stingrays which ultimately made all the difference, with Maddison D’Ombrain opening the scoring after a nice assist from prop forward Shayla Moreton-Stewart.
The Bulldogs would extend their lead within minutes after the Stingrays failed to clean up a Bulldogs bomb, allowing Ashlee Fawcett to regain and find Cheyanne Hatch back in support.
The Stingrays did finally get on the scoreboard in the second half through Bree-Anne Moreton finding some room down the left flank.
However, a magic long range try sealed victory for the Bulldogs, with Josie Strong doing some great work out of dummy half to release Emily France into space, racing half the field to score for the Bulldogs and cement grand final glory.
The win caps off a memorable season for Simon Harris and the inaugural Bulldogs side.
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