Harden Red Devils, Coach Jack O’Connor, Managers, Chris Ryan and Haydn Dunhill, 1. Josh Mann-Rae 2. Jack Quinn 3. Adam Walsh 4. Jack Rudd 5. Henry Messner 6. Jim Honner 7. Charlie Brown 8. James Wallis (VC) 9. James Price 10. Tom Lenehan 11. Judd Kerrison 12. Jack O’Connor 13. Ben Lenehan 14. Eddie McGeoch 15. Shahid Khalfan (C) 16. James Willets 17. Jeremy Martin 18. Gus Shea 19. Jack Alcorn 20. Sam Mckillop 21. Toby Haydon 22. Jarrod Medly 23. Max Hogan 24. Jacob Taylor 25. Max O’Connor 26. Johnny Manchester 27. Charlie Greer.

The Harden Red Devils secured their second premiership in three years in the Oilplus South West competition on Saturday, defeating the Young Yabbies 27-13 in a four tries to one performance at Robert’s Park.

Taking on the larger township of Young and with plenty of rich history between the two sides, the match will go down as a typical tough, hard game of bush rugby.

 Toughness was shown by players from both sides, however, Young’s Prop Hagan Williams probably gets first prize. The big Prop came out of a ruck with a dislocated finger. He yelled out to the sideline for his trainer to come and put it back in so he could continue to do his job for the next 60 minutes. That job was to oppose former Brumby and Wallaby representative Josh Mann-Rea. No easy task.

The game was delayed when a player from the previous ladies match received attention from the local ambulance service and was taken from the field.

Kickoff commenced at 3:35pm instead of 3:15pm.
Harden received and it wasn’t long before they made it in to Young’s territory.
Tom Lenehan was in fine form with the boot in general play and booted one downfield 80 metres from the restart. This put Young under pressure. Harden continued to attack the Yabbies. Ben Lenehan was on the end of a great ball which saw the NSW Country rep go straight through the hole before being tackled.
Young continued to defend and at the 13th minute mark something had to give. A slick backline movement saw Jack O’Connor go through and place the ball down next to the posts to score Harden’s first try. Harden went up 5-0 and with Ben Lenehan’s conversion it was 7-0.

Ed McGeoch has had a fine year. At the 18th minute mark he pilfered the ball in Young’s 22. Harden were held up over the line and the Yabbies defended well.

Not long after Judd Kerrison was taken out in the corner in an attempt to score a try, which was the flavour of the day for Harden. The scoreline could have been higher if not for the Yabbie’s desperate defence.

Henry Messner showed his commitment to the side by charging down a booming kick as Young tried to kick their way out of trouble.
Jack O’Connor was attempting to grab a double when he too was taken over the sideline in the corner.
Ben Lenehan followed suit and went over in the corner with the Yabbies defence again saving the day in the 24th minute.

The Yabbies had kept Harden to just 7 points at this stage and as play went from one end of the field to the other and back, Young pinned Harden down which resulted in the Devils having to do a 22 metre drop out.
Young received a penalty and went for the points with fly half Will Wennerbom slotting it through to keep Young in touch. 7-3. Wennerbom would go on to win the highest points scorer for the 2020 competition after the match. With one minute to go in the first half Harden went on the attack after securing possession inside Young’s 22m. Ed McGeoch went over in the corner and managed to stay in to put Harden ahead 12-3. The score stayed the same when Ben Lenehan’s conversion was unsuccesfull.
Both sides took the short break to rally the troops. Harden kicked off and their forward pack continued to work hard against a big Yabbies pack. Jack Quinn was having a big game alongside Jeremy Martin while Josh Mann-Rea and Adam Walsh used their cool heads and experience to help direct Harden’s youthful pack around.The usual suspects of Jim Honner and James Wallis were proving to be consistent against Young and Harden rolled players on and off to keep those on the paddock fresh.

Harden received a penalty and not long after, so did Young. Both were succeesfull and this took the score to 15-6 in Harden’s favour.

Harden’s Captain Shahid Khalfan was in his usual consistent form and had a great run which went on to set up Jacob Taylor in the corner, where Taylor somersaulted and managed to stay inside the white line. Ben Lenehan slotted one over from the sideline to make it 22-6 after 12 minutes in the second half.

Tom Lenehan kicked a 60 metre punt to cause a line out and it was McGeoch who grabbed a double going over in the creek corner. Conversion was unsuccessful. However, Harden now had a lead that they could defend with 25 minutes to go.

Young kept coming at Harden putting their big forward pack to good use, while Wennerbom and Ned Mullany directed the troops. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Young’s day and Young scored a consolation try which was converted to make the final score 27-13 in Harden’s favour.

Harden coach Jack O’Connor was ecstatic with the win. He thanked his fellow coaching group and praised his players on the win.

He said, “It’s brilliant, it’s extraordinary, it was the people’s final. I just have so much respect for Ned Mullany and ‘Wenner’s’ they are a really good bunch of blokes, we were lucky today that we were tactical. We didn’t take them lightly, our fellas just showed a lot of heart, a lot of heart. It was 7-0 for so long. A lot of hard work went in to gathering these players up and putting the squad together.”

O’Connor was happy with the shortened season and straight after the Grand Final told the Times, “They should be sticking to a shortened season, it might entice other clubs in. It was great for the Devils to put on such a great performance. 3 years ago we started with 8 fellas and this year we had 30 and now we have 2 premierships.”

O’Connor singled out Treasurer Chris Ryan and President Ben Lenehan alongside Kacie Brooks as major contributors to the club but highlighted the
efforts of all the volunteers who have ensured the Devil’s success over the last few seasons. The Devil’s will have no doubt enjoyed a few cold
beverages by now as they set about planning for 2021.