The day was spiked with both joy and disappointment today in Coffs Harbour as Macksville's League Tag and Under 18s teams went head to head against the Comets.
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The Sea Eagles women were defeated in the first ever grand final appearance for a Macksville League Tag team, but our Under 18s boys clinched victory yet again to back up their 2018 major/minor premierships.
Our ladies were nervous, but support rallied around them pre-match with Sawtell's Under 18s coach Jay Greenshields offering his insight into the game.
But things got off to an uncomfortable start for the Sea Eagles with the Comets scoring in the second minute of the match.
By half-time our girls were still scoreless.
They got three over the line in the second half, but it wasn't enough to earn them the major premiership.
In spite of their loss today, the team had some very significant wins: Kirstie Pedrola was named 'Best and Fairest' for the season, and was awarded highest goal scorer (28 goals) and highest point scorer with 61 points this season. Kirstie continued her impeccable record in the final with three beautiful conversions.
Wulaaran Walker took out the other major individual award for the season, as highest try scorer, with 16 tries. And she earned herself another in the grand final match too.
But noone was left to dwell on disappointment, because the boys were up next, and quietly confident they could complete the perfect season.
Macksville's defence was on full show from early on, and try as they might, the Comets couldn't get look in.
On the flip side, the Sea Eagles boys capitalised on every Comet error to put it over the line no fewer than five times, with the golden boot of Zane Doolan converting four out of the five tries.
In the second half the Comets started to rally, but it was never going to be enough. They scored one try, robbing our boys of a shutout match, but not the shutout season they were really here for.
The final score was 28-4. And the boys had achieved their cult status as 'the undefeatable'.
For quite a few of the boys in this team, this was their fifth successive premiership - a streak they started in 2014 during their Under 14s season as Bowra Tigers.
Captain Lachie Jones was absolutely speechless after the match - you couldn't get the smile off his dile.
Co-captain Jordan Moore said it was a very tough match, physically, but he was so stoked he felt like he could go out there and do it all again.
While coach Todd Bartlett said he was "tremendously happy for the boys".
They deserved this. They were the best team in the comp by far, and they've trained so hard this year.
"Our defence worked so hard today, and our kicking game was strong. We made a few errors but we didn't let them through. But we made good use of their mistakes.
"There was a huge crowd from home out there and that really helped to lift the team up. I'm just so happy. You couldn't ask for a better season."
Congratulations to both teams who played their hearts out today.
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Mel Leigh Dee
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
