At various stages throughout their grand final win, the Glen Innes Magpies under 18s didn't look like the dominant force they had been all season.
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But winners get the job done and that's what the side did in Sunday's Group 19 decider against the Narwan Eels.
Ill-discipline with the ball in-hand cost the Magpies severely throughout the fixture but they eventually ran out 30-26 winners.
"That is the worst that they have played all year," coach Danny Armstrong said.
"Who would want to be a coach?"
Captain Mitch Duddy echoed the coach's sentiments.
"It was back and forth, the game," he said.
"Heaps of drop ball, didn't know which way it was going to go.
"It was tough.
"Narwan turned up, it was anyone's game."
But when push came to shove, they delivered.
When Armstrong took the team on at the start of 2023, there was only one thing he wanted from them.
"I asked them at the start of the year for commitment," he said.
They rose to the challenge, laid the platform on the training paddock and it paid off.
"Dedicated. Unbelievable," Armstrong said.
"We trained an hour, hour-and-a-half, two nights a week, in the rain.
"They are a lovely bunch of boys.
"They are a credit to Glen Innes, a credit to the town."
The group have been playing together since their early days in the minor league club.
Duddy said they are all "best mates" and it showed.
"Through school footy and everything like that we just gel together really well as a group," he said.
"Everyone put in effort and their one percenters.
"Everyone knew their role so it was massive to come out with the win.
"Every week we bust our arses at training."
Second rower Kolby Martin was named the player of the match.