Cargo Blue Heelers and Eugowra Golden Eagles showed on Sunday why the Woodbridge Cup rugby league competition is gaining in stature as one of the premier second division competitions in the state.
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Players held nothing back as they played for the 2013 premiership in front of the biggest crowd of the season at the Eugowra Sportsground.
At the end of a bruising 80 minutes the Blue Heelers were victorious 22-12 after leading 10-0 at the break.
Both sides started at a hectic pace with the forward packs both keen to shown their dominance, resulting a number of sin-binning for players from both sides.
It only took two minutes for Cargo to have prop Peter Townsend in the bin which was followed by the Eagles Chris Harrison in the sheds for 10 minutes after 20 minutes.
Eugowra then went down to 11 players when winger Marty Herbert joined Harrison in the sheds.
Cargo went down to 12 players again later with lock Ashley Brown cooling his heels in the bin.
On the scoreboard Cargo started best with Dan Madden scoring after 13 minutes for Duncan Young to convert for 6-0.
Veteran winger Nigel Thornberry extended Cargo’s lead near half time for 10-0 as oranges were taken.
Early in the second half Eugowra showed their best form to worry the Blue Heelers but were unable to post points.
With the ball Young was able to cross and convert for 16-0 which was extended to 18-0 with 25 minutes left to play.
With more ball Eugowra attacked with success to score twice through centre Jake Stenhouse and replacement Zac Bolam for centre Luke Clarke to add the extras and 18-12 with 12 minutes remaining.
Eugowra continued to attack the Cargo line but defence of the Blue Heelers was equal to the task which resulted in Eagles captain coach Bobby Wykamp finishing the game in the sin bin.
With the extra man Cargo found space for fullback Steve Maere to score with full time seconds away.
In one of the best grand finals ever seen in Woodbridge Cup it was hard to pick the best.
Cargo forwards laid the platform for the win with Townsend and Brett Morgan outstanding while their back three, McGregor, Young and lock Brown, who has given 21 years to the Blue Heelers, close to the best on the field.
For Eugowra, Stenhouse was a tower of strength in the forwards with the Wykamp brothers, Bobby and Jarrod, were everywhere in the halves while in the backs Brendan Plunkett tried hard.
