Casuarina and Darwin Dragons were the big winners across last weekend's Grand Finals, claiming five titles between them. Check out our full coverage below!
Casuarina ended their 10-year A-Grade premiership drought in spectacular fashion, defeating Palmerston 35-21 in a gripping decider at Rugby Park.
The Cougars shot ahead early with two quickfire tries as the Crocs struggled to contain Casuarina’s explosive outside backs.
But Palmerston were undeterred, twice clawing back from double-digit point margins to trail by just nine points with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Craig Rogerson kept building scoreboard pressure in threes for the Crocs and when Casuarina saw red in the 50th minute, an upset threatened to undo the early try-scoring magic of Waisale Sekitoga and Samuela Kanongataa.
Ultimately, it was a bridge too far for Palmerston as Casuarina’s class saw them home with a late try to ice the club’s third premiership of the day.
Before lifting the shield, Cougars captain Lanz Malupo dedicated the win to Daniel Jarman, a much-loved Casuarina player, who died in August.
Casuarina coach Luigi Andreoli was proud to see his men get the job done on the back of a strong season.
“I’m sort of glad it’s all over, its good closure to win three for the club and winning the A-grade one means a lot to everyone, and a great way for us to close out the season,” Andreoli said.
“There were a couple of things that happened at the beginning of the year that made our players put their heart and soul into this season, there was a lot of feeling in this one.
“It came down to going back to our structures, we let the little one percenters get away from us at times, so we had to reset and react to draw out the win.”
Earlier, the Cougar secured victory in an injury-riddled 31-12 win over MacKillop Saints before their B-Grade men trumped Katherine’s Rucking Roos in a 17-13 slugfest.
But they weren’t the only club celebrating multiple titles with Darwin Dragons rolling Palmerston 22-7 in the U14 division.
And later on the Dragons claimed an emphatic 55-0 grand final win over Causarina in the open women’s 12-a-side.
Despite going down in two grand finals, Palmerston held their heads high with club legend Dennis Bree bringing the crowd to life with a 3-minute cameo at the end of the A-Grade decider.
The 71-year-old again packed down in the front row and secured a scrum for his teammates as the clock ticked down to Casuarina’s title win.
“It meant a lot to me, I played my last A-grade grand final in 1977, so this was pretty exciting for me,” Bree said.
“But more to see how the young ones at our club have come through, got strong over the year and I think they’re setting a platform for us over the next five years.
“I can’t describe how I felt to come on, I didn’t think I would and I understand that completely, but to have that opportunity to pack down in the scrum right at the end meant the world to me.”
