Canberra Raiders have defeated Illawarra Steelers 18-14 in a hard fought UNE SG Ball Cup Grand Final that went down to the wire.
Both sides came out of the sheds firing and with a dry track at Leichhardt Oval, there looked to be plenty of points on offer.
The Raiders started to gain ascendency early after Caleb Esera started to generate some ruck speed. A few plays later, Toby Thorburn was able to capitalise as he dropped Esera underneath who crashed over for the first try. Mitchell Spencer was successful with the conversion to bring his side out to 6-0 after 12 minutes.
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Subscriber only Brady Hazeldine has seen the promised land and his goal now is to do everything it takes to get there. The uber-competitive and silky-skilled fullback recently returned from a six-day stint at the Canberra Raiders brand new facility in the country s capital, where he joined fellow junior contracted players and trialists for an all-encompassing pre-season camp. The best part was being able to learn from all the coaching staff and the A-Grade boys, the Norths junior said. It s definitely a big step up from club football, going down there and seeing how everything operates. It s a bit of a jump for sure.
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Subscriber only It takes more than one person to score a try, win a game or be crowned premiers - that s the beauty of rugby league. But when the spotlight is almost always on the collective, sometimes it s nice to dig deeper. Of the hundreds of Mackay rugby league stories we shared this year, here are 16 that went beyond club and competition. Isaiah Tass took the path less travelled to be at the NRL Nines in Perth this year. The Northern Suburbs junior was never given a leg up or hand out, not that he would have accepted one anyway.