Last Saturday was indeed a day for celebration in the village of Binalong as the town was triumphant over Harden’s Hawkettes and Hawks in the George Tooke Shield Grand Final matches.

The Jersey Girls ran out 7-2 winners to claim the inaugural George Tooke Shield Touch Premiership over Harden.

A low point of the presentation was when Farah Atallah was booed by members of a side that failed to make the Grand Final. She took it in her stride and responded by stating “we play by the rules”.

In the men’s game, The Waldren Construction Brahmans took the Premiership by 34-4 from the Hawks in front of an estimated crowd of 1,500.

Harden came to Binalong full of confidence after their resounding defeat of the Yass Magpies at McLean Oval on the previous Saturday. Harden may have spent a lot of their fuel in the previous game against Yass.

History and statistics don’t play for either side, but the fact that the Brahmans only allowed 64 points to be scored against them in the regular season said volumes for the job ahead of Harden in this game. By contrast, the Hawks leaked 156 points for the year.

Brahman’s Captain/Coach Rawlinson was restricted to the sideline and directed his charges from there. Prop Tony Worthy was handed the job of on-field Captain.

Harden kicked off towards the east and the Hawks were awarded two very early penalties. After 5 tackles they kicked ahead, and on receival of the ball, a Binalong player ran, only to have the ball stolen, then it was pinched off the Hawks by a Brahman, in a tit-for-tat fashion until play resumed.

Play was on a very even keel at this stage with both sides defending heavily against the other. Hawk’s Centre Chris Beal delivered a good solid legal tackle on his opposite number however when the tackled player resented the force used and appealed, the Referee awarded Binalong a penalty, much to the astonishment and displeasure of the crowd.

Both sides continued to scramble in defence however just before the first half siren the Brahmans gained momentum, kicking a 40/20, and then a received a penalty for a dangerous throw.

Both sides threatened to score but in the end it was the Brahman Matt Cooke who kicked a wicked rolling grubber into Harden’s in-goal allowing Centre Craig Irwin to field the ball and score. He then converted his own try to bring up the 6-0 half time score.

At the resumption of play, it seemed the stalemate would continue until a play-the-ball near the visitor’s line saw Scott Naughton burrow over the chalk near the posts. The Hawks had kept Naughton contained in the first half but allowed him to score the simplest of tries. Craig Irwin again obliged with the boot to bring up the 12-0 score.

Fatigue started to set in on Harden and there were frequent stoppages for injuries as well as head knocks. The superior line speed of the Premiers forced mistakes from the Hawks.

After 26 minutes, Matt Cooke made a line break and sliced through the defence to score wide out. The conversion was missed but 3 minutes later Irwin was in for his second try of the day. Craig converted his own try to move the score on to 28-0.

With the tryline in sight, Harden Captain Coach Luke brown split the Brahmans defence leaving it in tatters, to be tackled 2 metres short. As he stood up to play the ball quickly, he was touched by the marker, causing him to lose possession. It was a professional foul, and a Sin-Bin offence. But the Referee ruled ‘lost ball’.

With a minute of the game remaining, the gallant Hawks forced their way to Binalong’s try line and scored a late consolation try. The conversion went wide of the posts and the game finished at 34-4.

It was a remarkable two years of undefeated football from the Waldren Construction Brahmans. For the second year in succession, Scott Naughton was awarded Man-of-the-Match.

Binalong 34 (tries: C.Irwin (2), S. Naughton, M.Cooke and S.Davis, Goals: C.Irwin (5) def Harden 4 (try Tim Pinney). Referee: Mr. Robert Moore.

From the editor: Thankyou for a great year from two very passionate Rugby league men in Richard Glover (R.S. Williams) and Paul “Wings” McCarthy. Without your help in regard to match reports, information and photos Rugby League in the area would not be were it is today.

The following is a comment from Richard. “As this is my last report for 2014, I must thank our stats team of Greg Weller and Leon Arabin for doing the pencilling for me all year, the reports could not got to print without their support.”

Photo: Brahman Shaun Davis throw ball in triumph after scoring a try, while Phil Sparnon and Dave Brown celebrate.