In season 2021, five of the Saints who were involved in part of a streak which delivered six premierships from seven grand final appearances in as many years spent time in the junior programs of NRL clubs.

Ash Cosgrove and Josh Belfanti were at Penrith, Tyler Colley spent time with Cronulla, Blake Martin was a Canberra Raider and Myles Martin wore a Parramatta jumper.

It is further evidence of just how special that group of young Saints were.

While there were changes as the seasons ticked by, when the streak began in 2013 in the Group 10 Junior Rugby League under 11s competition, Blake Martin, Colley and Belfanti were there.

That year under coach Pete Colling, they crushed Blayney 46-0 in the grand final, icing an undefeated campaign.

Next season the Colling coached Saints again went undefeated, beating Bloomfield 16-10 in the decider. In 2015 after Dane Fisher took over the side, they added another grand final triumph, this time beating Mudgee 30-10.

While missing out in 2014, CYMS beating them 22-6 in the decider, the following season the Saints avenged that defeat by downing the Orange side 22-18 to claim the under 15s premiership.

In their final season as Group 10 juniors in 2018 the Saints once more delivered and once more it was Orange CYMS who faced them on grand final day. The under 16 boys in blue and white were the 24-18 victors.

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It was then onto under 18s as part of the Group 10 senior competition and under the guidance of Kevin Grimshaw, the Saints rolled on with a 20-8 win over Bathurst Panthers in the decider.

Chris O'Neill, who coached that group of players as under 15s and under 16s, takes pride in what they did as juniors and what many of them are now achieving as young adults.

"They were a good, tough, talented side," he said.

"They definitely had ability and all the rest of it, but I used to say to them that each year is going to get harder. I worked on the whole team thing and told them to enjoy each year, because the next year some of them could be working, or might be injured or not decide to play or move away.

"It's good to see that some them have gone on and taken on the bigger competitions in Sydney, it's pretty rewarding actually."

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Both Martin brothers, front rower Blake and lock Myles, were part of the teams that O'Neill coached.

While there was an age gap between them, it didn't stop them from playing together and sharing their triumphs.

"Blake always played in the right age group coming up, Blake and Myles always played together, but Blake was the older brother," O'Neill said.

"Myles always played up a year or two to play with his brother, but they were always pretty big kids. So even though Myles was playing up, he always had the size."

O'Neill has kept an eye on their progress since they graduated from juniors and was delighted to see both involved in grand finals this past season.

"Blake played for Canberra last season in the SG Ball comp, which is the under 19s, and they won the comp which is a massive achievement," he said.

"Myles he played in the Harold Matthews comp, which is the under 16s, for Parramatta and they only got beat in the grand final.

"He's now signed with Newcastle and the sky is the limit with what he can do at Newcastle.

"So they have both represented themselves and their family and Bathurst St Pat's really well."

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Both Cosgrove, who played at fullback under O'Neill's guidance, and centre Belfanti were part of Penrith Panthers' SG Ball squad this season.

Cosgrove had first linked with Penrith in 2018 as a member of their Harold Matthews outfit, while this year was Belfanti's first taste of competing at that level.

"Ash played a fair bit of the comp with Penrith, he was on the bench and in the starting side, he went pretty well," O'Neill said.

"Josh Belfanti, he played probably half the games in the starting side and the other half off the bench and he's now got another opportunity down there with them to really learn from last season's experience.

"He was down there because of his size and he'd played well with St Pat's. I think he found it tough, but he was playing up a year.

"Now he'll be in the right age group, he will have taken a lot from last year [season] and he knows what he's in for and knows how hard you've got to work."

As for halfback Colley, he spent time working with the Sharks before coming back to not only be a member of St Pat's premier league side, but earn a senior Group 10 cap.

"Tyler went to the Sharks and played in a few development sides, but didn't make it through to the starting SG Ball side. The step down to Sydney is obviously a lot tougher than the bush because there are a lot of good players down there," O'Neill said.

"But to his credit he had a crack at it and learned from it.

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"I grew up in Sydney and I moved out to country 15 years ago now, but I played all my football in Sydney in the Penrith comp. So I know how hard it is to go well down there and how tough it is to make rep sides down there.

"So for them to be down there and really having a go, it's really good to see."

Though the talent those Saints possess was evident from the time they first pulled on a blue and white jumper, O'Neill is proud the work he did on building their mental resilience has continued to pay off.

"I focussed pretty hard on their fitness and ball skills and drills ... but the main thing I tried to instil in the guys was their mental toughness. That will to win, to never give up and to get over their opposite number," he said.

"I told these guys that if can get it over their opposite number, their rival hooker or front rower, well then they've won that battle and if each of them could do that, then hopefully as a team you can win the overall the battle.

"It's just really rewarding to see what they've done, obviously I keep in touch with a lot of them as they're all good mates with my son."

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