Passionate, determined and full of heart is how two junior Marlins teams were being described by the Nelson Bay AFL community after fighting to the bitter end in their grand final games against Newcastle City.
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In their fourth consecutive grand final appearance, just one point separated the Nelson Bay Marlins under-15 youth girls from the title that Newcastle City eventually claimed in their grand final clash in Medowie on Sunday.
When the final bell rang, the scoreboard heartbreakingly read 1.5-11 to 1.6-12.
In their first grand final together and with no bench, the Marlins' under-13 boys went toe-to-toe with the dominant Newcastle City boys.
With just three minutes to go, the game was tied up 36-all. However, City was able to score seven more points and claim the win, 5.6-36 to 6.7-43.
Girls coach Matt Gray and boys coach Brett Thorpe were full of praise for their young teams.
"They're a great bunch of kids," Gray said.
"A majority of the girls have been together for four years. Since the beginning, they've had a great friendship. They train hard and work well together.
"We'll lose about four girls to under-17s next year but most of them will remain in under-15s.
"The Newcastle team they faced, most of their players will go up to 17s. Our girls were a lot younger and smaller in statue than the team they faced but they have big hearts and gave it their all.
"You can't ask more than that. I am really proud of them."
Thorpe said it was no small feat to field a competitive 13 years' boys AFL team in the Hunter competition as there were so many other codes competing for their interest.
The added difficulty this year was, of course, the COVID-19 restrictions.
"Despite the obstacles we were competitive," he said. "It was a big success to get the boys to the grand final and show the area that, while Nelson Bay is a small club, AFL is growing here and were can go up against the big clubs from Newcastle."
The under-15 girls were without one of their core players, Catalina Labra-Knox, on Sunday. Days out from the grand final Catalina was admitted to hospital with an infection in her knee. The girls included Catalina's jersey in their team photo.
Taylor Smith, captain of the girls team on Sunday, was named Hunter AFL's runner up for the under-15 girls best and fairest award.
Meanwhile, Marlins boys team member Kai Jansen won the Hunter AFL's best and fairest award for under-13 boys. Jansen joined the Marlins upon moving to Nelson Bay from Victoria at the start of the year.
The Medowie-based Port Stephens Power AFL club hosted five of the Hunter's grand finals at Ferodale Sports Complex on Sunday, for the under-11 to under-15 age divisions.
Gray said he plans to continue coaching the under-15 girls side in 2021. He thanked girls team manager Julie Lack for her hard work behind the scenes this season.
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Ellie-Marie Watts
A journalist with 10 years experience, Ellie-Marie connects readers to the stories that matter in their communities. A Port Stephens-based news, sport and event writer and photographer with a passion for human interest features.
A journalist with 10 years experience, Ellie-Marie connects readers to the stories that matter in their communities. A Port Stephens-based news, sport and event writer and photographer with a passion for human interest features.
