THEY first came together as under 10s who were still learning about football, but on Saturday as a group of talented under 16 Bathurst Panthers they showcased all the skills as they sealed an undefeated premiership campaign.
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Panthers beat long-time rivals Bloomfield Tigers 34-10 in the under 16s grand final at Jack Arrow Oval, making it a very memorable way to end their time in the Group 10 Junior Rugby League ranks.
It was Bloomfield who beat them all those years ago in the under 10s grand final, but this time Panthers scored the first 18 points of the match and went on with the job from there.
"They really deserve it. I don't think they could have asked for anything else," Panthers coach John Griffiths said.
Having lost to Cowra on grand final the past two years and heading into Saturday's decider undefeated in season 2020, there was certainly pressure on the shoulders of the Panthers players.
But as Griffiths put them through their paces in the pre-match warm-up, he got an inkling that his side would get the fairy tale finish to juniors they so badly wanted.
"In the warm up they weren't nervous, all they wanted to do was get out there and I thought it was either going to go one way or the other. But when we started it was good," the coach said.
"I had that little gut feeling we'd do it, but you can never be too sure.
"The second quarter we got away from what we should be doing and got back into that having to defend again style of footy. They were coming back at us, but just that half-time helped us to regroup."
The first quarter it was all Panthers as Bloomfield made an error on their first set - putting their kick out on the full - and hardly saw any possession after that point.
After that mistake with the kick, Bloomfield knocked on a Panthers' bomb to give the hosts repeat sets and they took full advantage as Logan Duffy crossed between the sticks.
Five minutes later Panthers forced a line drop out and it got worse for Bloomfield as they were then penalised for having players in front of the kicker.
Again the mistake was punished, this time Tallis Tobin steaming onto an inside ball from hooker Andrew Bonham and crashing over. It was one of many highlights for the prop who was named best on ground.
Just before quarter-time Sam Kelly dived over in the left corner for Panthers' third try, Jackson Carter nailing the conversion to make it 18-0.
Bloomfield hit back in the second quarter on the back of good work from Kaiden Williams. He charged down a kick, scooped up the ball and ran half the length of the field.
The set finished with a try to fullback Riley Robinson.
A Carter penalty goal saw Panthers leading 20-6 at half-time, but when Williams began the second stanza by busting through three tackles to score in the right corner Bloomfield had a sniff at 20-10.
However, that was to be as close as Bloomfield got to the minor premiers.
A piece of individual brilliance from Carter - stepping his way through Bloomfield's on-line defence then diving over - swung momentum back in Panthers' favour.
Bloomfield then had Lachlan Lawson sin-binned late in the third quarter and while his team-mates did well to hold Panthers out as he sat out his minutes, they did not see out the match with a full 13.
Williams was sin-binned just as Lawson was ready to return, but as he back-chatted after that ruling it was changed to a send-off.
Carter booted another penalty goal soon after to make it 28-10 and as the game ticked inside the final minute Panthers pushed further ahead.
Tom Lemmich scored off a cross-field chip kick and Carter nailed another wide conversion to put the final score at 34-10.
Bloomfield captain Max Wilson was naturally disappointed not to go out with a win - especially against a long-time rival - but he conceded Panthers were too good from the get go.
"From the start we didn't put together that first set and that probably got us down, but they were just too strong for us the whole game," the halfback said.
"We've had a pretty good rivalry since under 10s, it's pretty crazy how we got to verse them our last year in the grand final but yeah, they are a great team.
"I've been playing with the boys since under 10s so it's pretty good to finish off with them in the grand final. We weren't supposed to be here but the boys dug deep to make it - I couldn't think of a better group of boys to play with."
