August 25, 2024
Murgon downed the Nanango Stags 26-24 in a thrilling, last-minute victory in the South Burnett Rugby League A Grade Grand Final played at Wondai Sportsground on Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs had the hardest road to travel to make to it to Saturday’s game after finishing fourth on the competition ladder.
First they had to beat last year’s Premiers, Kingaroy, in the sudden-death Minor Semi-Final (44-28); then they had to down Minor Premiers Cherbourg in the Preliminary Final (a last-minute 32-30 win last week) to earn the right to take on the Nanango Stags in the Grand Final.
Nanango put the initial points on the board in the first minute with a try to Nikolao Petueli, converted by Jayden Tewes-Smallwood – the first of his four-from-four conversions on the day.
The Nanango try came after an intercept in Murgon’s quarter and against the early run of play.
Five minutes later, Murgon was back on attack, with Buddy Stanley evening the score at 6-all after Lloyd Langton converted a runaway try.
Murgon then extended its first-half lead to 22-6 after tries to Josiah Alberts, Joshua Peterson and Christian Simpson.
Tom Springate brought Nanango back into the game just before the break, taking the half-time score to Murgon 22, Nanango 12 – although Murgon’s lead could have been greater if a pass near the Nanango tryline hadn’t gone astray just before the siren.
Nanango began the second half on attack again, with a try attempt held-up before Michael English scored in the corner. Nanango were now just four points in arrears at 22-18.
The Stags had little luck for the next 20 minutes – with one try attempt held up over the line, and another dive in the corner ruled out by the touch judge – before Joe Smith pounced on a loose ball near the Murgon line to score. The conversion put Nanango in the lead 24-22 with just 10 minutes to go.
Murgon fans – confident after their team’s last-minute win against Cherbourg last weekend – were screaming out “there’s plenty of time”.
Nanango gave away a penalty within kicking distance, but the Mustangs elected to go for the try instead and were rewarded when Ty Gyemore scored in the corner with just three minutes remaining on the clock.
The conversion attempt was waved away, but it didn’t matter this time … Murgon was ahead 26-24 when the full-time siren sounded.
- Murgon try scorers: Buddy Stanley, Josiah Alberts, Joshua Peterson, Christian Simpson and Ty Gyemore. Lloyd Langton kicked three conversions.
- Nanango try scorers: Nikolao Petueli, Tom Springate, Michael English and Joe Smith. Jayden Tewes-Smallwood kicked four conversions.
(See Game Photos and Grand Final Gallery, bellow)
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At the trophy presentations, Murgon captain Neil Stanley commiserated with Nanango, saying that playing against the best had brought the best out in his team.
“The second Tuesday of January, that’s where this started,” Neil said.
“This is no fluke, we worked hard … we just dug in and dug in. It’s an honour just to play football with you guys.
“4-6-0-5 … we play for two communities. We got that on our back. Black, white or brindle, football brings people together. We are all family.”
Nanango captain Patrick Gentry congratulated the Mustangs on their win and thanked the Stags’ sponsors and fans for their support.
Murgon’s Jesse Button was named Man of the Match and the Chaz Williams Memorial Shield was presented to Christian Simpson.
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Game Action
NB. southburnett.com.au will publish a report on the Under 14s Grand Final later this week.
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Grand Final Gallery
Great coverage of the grand final. Digital media preseves the game forever and brings it to life no matter where you are. When my uncle Kev McMahon captain-coached Murgon to the 1964 South Burnett Rugby League premiership (coincidentally they also beat Nanango that year) just one black and white photo appeared in the paper!