It took an intercept try in the dying stages of extra time for Camden Rams to seal a 38-26 victory over The Oaks Tigers in a dramatic Macarthur Conference grand final yesterday at Campbelltown Stadium.
Camden scored a try in the first half of extra time to break the 26-26 deadlock.
But the 32-26 lead looked shaky as the brave Tigers threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Rams, especially in the second five minute period of extra time.
But as soften happens when a team throws caution to the wind in a desperate effort to grab victory from the jaws of defeat, a pass goes astray or ends up in the hands of an opponent who races 60 metres to score.
This was a grand final for the ages and had the large crowd on the edge of their seats for the entire 90 minutes.
Much of the credit has to go to the Tigers, who never gave up right up to the final hooter.
Their inspirational leader Mitchell Brasington was in the thick of the action right from the start and he was still scheming until the very last play of the decider.
For the record, Brasington also kicked four from four as well as a penalty goal.
You couldn’t help feeling sorry for Brasington and his courageous team, and after a game like that you sort of hope that there wouldn’t be a loser, but the reality is very different.
There has to be a winner, even in a game that was as even as you can get, and it just came down to who had any energy left in extra time.
There was one stage early in the second half when Camden threatened to run away with the grand final, scoring three tries in eight minutes to race to a 26-8 lead.
But the Tigers hit back quickly to reduce the deficit at 26-14 and with 21 minutes still to go they had crossed again to be within six points at 26-20.
There’s no doubt the Camden players got nervous around about this time, thinking about how they had lost last year’s grand final to Thirlmere.
Nine minutes out the Rams tried kicking a drop goal but it went wide.
And then their worst nightmare became reality, with The Oaks scoring five minutes before fulltime to draw level 26-26.
We don’t know what was said as the teams waited for extra time to get under way, but it was Camden that scored halfway through the first period of extra time to grab a six point lead.
Jackson Willis, the son of Magpies NRL legend Andrew, crossing for the important four pointer, which was converted by centre Jack Miller (five from six attempts for the game).
How Camden would have loved golden point rules to apply because that would have been it.
But they switched sides and started again for the final five minutes of the grand final.
An intercept try wasn’t the best way to win it, and in any case when the game was over there was more relief among the Camden players and coaching staff than sheer jubilation.
I guess you could say rugby league was the real winner in the 2024 grand final.
