Self-belief and bravery drove the Under 13 Division 4 Bushrats to premiership glory, according to assistant coach Mick Leary.
The Bushrats overcame a 24-12 halftime deficit against the Beaudesert Kingfishers to claim a 30-24 grand final victory on August 23.
For Mick, the premiership was a remarkable turnaround for a team that was at risk of not taking the field at the start of the season due to low numbers.
“It’s euphoric really, considering we had some under 12s that had to play up and there’s no under 14s team. It was a bit of a motley crew of kids that came together and did that,” he said.
“We kind of sat back and went, ‘We’ve done it. We’ve helped get these boys to where they are’.
“They put in the hard work to get there, and they were buzzing – just couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces.”
Mick coached alongside Finn Woodcock, with the pair making the team’s connection one of their biggest priorities throughout the season.
“We wanted to work with them, make them as brave as possible and to give them as many skills as we can during that season,” Mick said.
“It’s not all about the best kid there; it’s about everybody putting in.”
Mick said the players’ growing belief in themselves ultimately gave them the confidence to turn their skills into results on the field.
“We could show them what to do, but they then took it to the next level … to see what they could do with what we taught them,” he said.
“There’s an old saying in rugby league: hard work will beat talent when talent doesn’t want to show up.
“It’s good to be talented … but if you’re just genuinely working hard all the time and putting in – that’s what got them there.”
Following their premiership success, Mick hopes the team’s momentum will help grow participation and keep the age group together in the years ahead.
“It’s about trying to keep this age group together so we can fill that gap, and hopefully an even better goal is to build the age groups underneath us as we come up,” he added.
“Momentum creates momentum.”
