Years of heartbreak come to an end as Saints remain unbeaten to claim Top End Shield. After years of suffering and going agonisingly close, the MacKillop Saints have finally got a breakthrough victory against Katherine to claim the NT Top End Shield. This year’s tournament consisting of four schools; MacKillop Catholic College, Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Taminmin College & Katherine High School was hotly contested with the day consisting of mostly very close competition. As the sun heated the playing surface well into the high 30’s, players faced significant fatigue throughout the course of the day and although MacKillop ran unbeaten through the tight pool stage it was obvious that it was anybody’s trophy. With Katherine High’s draw with Good Shepherd the final was set, and the two tiring outfits took to the field for one final hit out.
MacKillop did not get off to the planned start and trailed by two try’s early in the 1st half. With momentum in the balance the likes of Captain Alister Lasker, Isaiah Baldock & Dylan Mugadza stepped up to the occasion. Led fearlessly at the from by Liam Kennedy the forwards also lifted and MacKillop’s line tightened and the game began to sway in favour of the home team. With the scores even at the half Coach Joel Robinson, asked the boys for “more aggression, numbers in tackles and to complete sets above all else.” Katherine came out firing in the 2nd half, however this was cut short when Isaiah Baldock found the try line 3 times in quick succession to take the game out of grasp for the tiring visitors.
Coach Joel Robinson said of the day; “They (Katherine High) had the size advantage, however that didn’t change our plans. We’ve been training hard and knew what was required to reach our goal of bringing home the trophy. We knew they would be tired toward the closing stages of the half and had planned for this. We stuck to our game plan, made some difficult decisions along the way but overall it was a huge team effort from all involved that made the difference.” Congratulations to all our Junior players. This tournament concludes a successful 2018 junior boys Rugby League season.
POOL MATCHES MacKillop Catholic College 8 draw 8 Katherine High School
Good Shepherd Lutheran College 16 def. 16 Taminmin College
MacKillop Catholic College 16 def. 4 Good Shepherd Lutheran College
Katherine High School 12 def. 8 Taminmin College
MacKillop Catholic College 24 def. 12 Taminmin
Katherine High School 14 draw 14 Good Shepherd Lutheran College
FINAL MacKillop Catholic College 20 def. 12 Katherine High School MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Isaiah Baldock