“We were really starting afresh,” Lions coach Darby Chalmers.

Stepping up to coach the side this year after helping them claim the title last year, he said the fact that they were such a young side made the weekend’s success that bit more satisfying.

“I could safely say we were the youngest team in Division One,” Chalmers said.

“We had one 18-year-old and one 17-year-old and the rest were 15 and 16.”

That will auger well for them in future years, Chalmers tipping there could be more success to come.

The Lions secured the silverware with a 2-1 win over Metro South West in an enthralling final, Brad Smith sealing the victory after a scramble in front of the goalkeeper about two minutes into the first period of extra-time.

“He’s a ring-in from Goulburn but played for us at the under-18s field championships,” Chalmers said.

The Sydney side led 1-nil at half-time but Chalmers wasn’t too concerned.

“We knew in the first half they were going to come out pretty strong. We wanted to firm up the defence and weather the storm,” he said.

“The second half we were able to play a bit more freely.”

After surviving on probably 20 per cent of the possession in the first half, they were the better side in the second half. Nathan Czinner put them on level terms about 10 minutes in.

He had a late chance to snatch the win with the Lions earning a short corner with 30 seconds to go but his flick hit the cross-bar.

Thirty seconds into extra-time they created another chance but the deflection just missed.

Chalmers admitted at that point it felt like it “might have been one of those days” but they were able to conjure one more opportunity.

He had coached the majority of the side in the under-15s side that finished runners-up last year.

“It was really nice to come away with the win,” he said, adding that it was “a real team effort”.

They didn’t rely on one or two players.

A 5-4 loss to Metro South West in their pool game was their only hiccup for the weekend, although Chalmers thought they were a bit unlucky not to get the result.

But they got their revenge in the game that mattered.

He said their success was built on their defence.

“We played a lot of counter-attack hockey,” Chalmers said.

“We knew playing older and more physical sides if we tried to match them one-on-one we’d probably get burnt.”

Despite being so young, he had headed into the championships with an expectation of making the semi-finals.

“Anything above that was a bonus,” he said.

The Tamworth under-18s had a tough weekend with both the A and B sides recording just the one win and missing out on the semi-finals.