THERE was blood on his lip and emotion in his voice after the game, but when St Pat's centre Sione Naufahu found himself with ball in hand with just under six minutes left in the Western under 21s grand final there was only one thing on his mind.
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He wanted to score a try.
That determination, combined with his speed and strength, saw him surge through Dubbo CYMS' defence to score what would be the match-winner. His try handed the Saints a 20-16 victory.
It was a good reward for Naufahu who had been solid for the Saints not only in Thursday night's decider, but in each of the games he played in blue and white.
Being able to celebrate that try and then the grand final win with his St Pat's team-mates a handful of minutes later was something the deeply religious young talent was thankful for.
"It feels great," he said.
"All I was thinking was just score the try and help the boys out, get a number on the board, but I can't say it was all me.
"First and foremost I want to thank my lord and savour Jesus Christ, without him I wouldn't be where I am right now and secondly I want to thank all the boys for all the sacrifices they made and the hard work they put in for the pre-season."
As Naufahu spoke about his team-mates the emotion in his voice was clear to hear. It was in part due to the fact Thursday's grand final is the last game of rugby league he plans to play with the Saints this season.
He intends to spend the rest of 2021 playing rugby union for the Bathurst Bulldogs.
"This is my last game for league, I'm going back to union, I only played league for 21s," he said.
"I moved here from Sydney five months ago and I was looking for a league team to join and this was the first one to pop up. So it was a good choice to come here.
"Meeting all the boys and getting to know them even closer, we became brothers. Tonight I just wanted to do my best for them because they are my brothers and I want to thank them all."
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