Grand final time is here, with Isis Devils and Gladstone Wallabys going head-to-head on Sunday.
After claiming the men’s title in their return to the Northern Districts Rugby League after 16 years in the Bundaberg Rugby League, then four years in limbo, and their Women’s League Tag suffering a heart-breaking grand final extra-time loss, Isis Devils will be chasing the double at Tegege Sports Ground, 26 kilometres north of Bundaberg, on Sunday.
Isis will be hot favourites against Gladstone Wallabys, who are in their first season in this league, in the Blue Riband men’s showpiece at 3.45pm, after Gin Gin Hawkettes chase a WLT four-peat against the Devils’ women at 2.15pm.
The Devils’ men lost just two matches in 2023 before sealing the title with a 46-14 mauling of the Sharks with doubles to Zak Tomlinson, Chris Wicks and Jake Thompson, none of whom are currently playing.
But despite containing just 11 survivors from their glory day 12 months ago, they have again been the best team in the league by far with premiership coach Ian Kearton again at the helm, winning 13 of their 14 round matches, and chalking up 622 points while conceding just 172.
They also jumped the Wallabys 52-12 in the qualifying final a fortnight ago, with doubles to halfback Zachary Zerafa, who was also among their try scorers in last year’s finale, captain and powerhouse front rower Royce Blair, and his younger brother and five-eighth Bryden Blair.
Bryden was an integral part of the Past Brothers team which won the Bundaberg A Grade grand final last year but returned to his original junior club in the new season to play under his big brother and his mother and club president Rhonda Campbell.
The Devils also walloped the Wallabys in their other two clashes this campaign; 56-12 in the season opener on April 6, and 46-18 on June 15, but they have lost only one other game, and they booked their place in the decider with a 40-26 dispatch of Miriam Vales Magpies at South Kolan on Sunday, with a man of the match performance from rugged front rower Nathaniel Noble.
Wallabys captain and five-eighth Matt Baker was the leading points scorer in fixtures with 166, 14 more than the Devils’ Brent Hass.
Baker’s wife Chelsea Baker, a club life member and a former Harvey Norman Queensland Maroons star who won a World Cup with the Jillaroos, and was a member of the first ever NRLW premiership winning team with the Brisbane Broncos, is the team coach.
The couple guided Wallabys to the Gladstone Reserve Grade grand final in 2022 in her first year in the position, only to lose to Gladstone Valleys 14-10, before the duo were also at the helm last year when they contested A Grade but lost all of their 12 games.
But Wallabys joined the NDRL this year, along with Calliope Roosters, when Valleys, Gladstone Brothers and Tannum Sands affiliated with the Rockhampton Rugby League.
Royce Blair is the second-leading try scorer in the competition with 13, behind Sharks’ Sulou Rokovuki, while another Devil, veteran James Murray-Bryant, is equal-third with 12, and Bryden and two Wallabys, fullback Nathan Bradley and winger Jamie Powell, are among a group of nine with nine four-pointers apiece.
Another epic duel is expected in the WLT decider after the Hawks got home 16-14 in extra-time last year with a double to the mercurial Jessica Galea after the Devils missed what would have been a match-winning conversion after the full-time siren and also went agonizingly close to clinching a winner in extra-time.
Gin Gin also defeated Isis 10-4 in the pre-season WLT gala grand final on April 21, before going on to a fourth straight minor premiership with 14 wins and a mere one loss - to the Devils 20-6 on June 15 – but they accounted for them at their other two rounds showdowns, 16-4 on May 19 and 12-4 on August 3, collectively amassing 528 points while letting win only 52.
Isis won their remaining 13 games, netting 476 points while conceding an also frugal 82.
The Devils clipped the Hawkettes’ wings 12-0 in the major semi-final with tries to Jackie and Jenny Freshwater, who have been wonderful additions in their first season at the club, but Gin Gin bounced back in the preliminary final, outgunning Agnes Water White 18-6.
Isis also boast the league’s leading try scorer in another star in her club debut season, fullback Megan Menchin with 17, and one of three players who are equal second on 16, yet another newcomer to the Devils in 2023, Tarni Sadler, who shares the position with sisters Jessica and Gabrielle Galea.
Both teams have plenty of other strike-power, with the Hawkettes containing three further players in double-figure try hauls, the multi-award winning Ruby Tobin (15), vintage veteran captain Jude Bust (12), and rookie Mia Wochnik (10).
And the top points scorer with 92 in Karrie Hills, who has been their throughout their golden run, also hails from the Hinterland, while the Devils have two more in the two digits, Klarissa Campbell (13) and Jackie Freshwater (12).
On a bumper program, the beaten preliminary and minor semi-finalists in both competitions will also chase consolation silverware, with the two Agnes Water teams White and Pink to battle it out for the new WLT Redfern Cup at 11am, and Miriam Vale Magpies and South Kolan Sharks to go head-to-head for the time-honoured men’s Slean Cup at 12.25pm.
