Finally the day arrived, 16th July 2017 FNSW Robertson Cup Final and a chance to achieve something that no one had done before, win 3 consecutive Robertson Cups. The week of the Final, during our normal training sessions, you could see that there was a big game ahead, having the pleasure to have coached this group of players for 7 years, I can always tell when there is a big game just around the corner. The usual banter lessens and the intensity in every drill and contest rises, the preparation was great, even with 4 boys in the snow, we organised an extra session on Saturday to give those boys a run prior to the Final.
The day of the Final, we kept it as normal as possible, there wasn’t any buses or stretch hummers hired, the boys as always made their own way to Valentine Park, getting there an hour prior to the game.
2:45 PM, time to get in the dressing sheds, again, normal preparation for the game, I told the boys “10 minutes everyone ready”
2:55 PM, In big games, I like to give the boys a pep talk , and reinforce some points about the way I wanted them to play the game. We didn’t know much about the Mounties Boys, besides the fact that they were leading their Comp and that any team that makes a SC Final had to be quality.
3:05 PM, time for the warmup , this for me, is the most important part of game day, you can see how switched on the boys are, normally if the boys are very quiet and focus on the task ahead I get a warm and fuzzy feeling. After seeing the level of concentration on the boys faces, I know, that is going to take a hell of a team to beat us.
4:15 PM, KO time , there has been a 45’ delay due to the previous game going into sudden death extra time and penalties but we are ready go.
Halftime – We are up 3-1 on the scoreboard and we are playing some great football, only a couple of things to sort out during the break.
Fulltime – Final score 6-1 , the boys have done it!!! Playing some of the best attacking football that I have seen from them in the last 7 years.
Presentation – Miss Robertson, the granddaughter of the man that made the Robertson Cup possible, says some very nice words about the teams achievement and medals are given to all to commemorate this huge achievement.
Game is over and is now time to celebrate, not every day you make History and winning 3 SC’s in a row was just that. Everyone heads down to the Tav for a few drinks, the younger ones kick on , the older ones go home!!
Big thank you, not just to this boys that make this football crazy person so happy to still be involved in the game he loves but also to all the other boys and people that have been part of this ride from U14’s in 2011 to where we are now.
Much more than just a team!!