1 week Ago By Agron Latifi
. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading An emotional Peter McLeod struggled to hold back the tears after watching his Western Suburbs Devils secure their first Illawarra Rugby League premiership since 2018.
The Devils won their first grand final in six years after downing a gallant Thirroul Butchers on Sunday tat WIN Stadium. The McLeod-coached Wests fought back from 12-0 down to secure a 31-20 grand final victory, much to the joy of their thousands of fans at WIN Stadium. The victory for McLeod's chargers denied Thrroul the opportunity of breaking a club 150-year record of winning back-to-back grand finals.
Instead the Butchers can take solace from almost winning a title from fourth-spot two years running. Near misses in the recent past - such as a loss in the 2023 semi-final against Thirroul and a defeat in the 2022 grand final against Collegians - inspired Wests to secure a thrilling grand final win. An emotional McLeod struggled to fight back the tears after the game.
"This means so much to a lot of guys," the Wests coach said. "A lot of blokes have been here a long time that really deserve that. "To be behind early and basically score, I think six unanswered tries or five unanswered tries, whatever it was, I'm really proud of their effort, like I always am.
" Thirroul started like a house on fire and quickly jumped out to a 12-0 lead after just 14 minutes of play. Butchers legend Jarrod Boyle had a hand in his team's first try after halfback Tarje Whitford was on hand to score after regathering Boyle's brilliant grubber into the in-goal. Josh Martin duly converted to see Thirroul lead 6-0.
Five minutes later the Butchers doubled their lead when second-rower Toby Huxley barged over under the posts, and Martin added the two. Wests had been starved of possession at that point but slowly fought their way back into the contest. The Devils though lost the services of lock Levi Pascoe who limped off midway through the first half with a leg injury.
His replacement Dylan Lauri though made an almost instant impression when he broke free in the Butchers' 20 metre zone and despite the best efforts of Thirroul fullback Dane Courtney, scored a brilliant solo try, which was duly converted by Dane Chisholm. With time almost running out in the opening 40 minutes, the Devils did well to score their second try of the match. They were presented the opportunity after a Thirroul error forced a scrum.
From the resulting scrum Chisholm ran across field before hooking up with his winger Jy Hitchcook who ran across to the other side and after a few pair of hands the ball found the other flying winger Colby Pellow who dove in to score wide in the right corner. This was the final play of the half, with the Butchers heading to the halftime break with a slight 12-10 advantage. "I just thought if we could get our fair share of possession, things might change," McLeod said.
"But full credit to Thirroul, they're done well and I've led in grand finals too and been run down, so we just needed to get our fair share of possession. "And then we had to ice it and there was a few big plays by some big players there that did. "I was really proud of them all.
I had 17 players-of-the-match. I can't single any of them really but I thought Dylan Lauri changed the game when he came on. "He's a special, special footballer.
That will probably be his last ever game, so he deserved that. "Talk about legends of the league. There's one right there.
" It was the Devils which started the brighter in the second half and took their first lead of the game when Hitchcock scored in the 44 th minute. The Peter McLeod-coached side then dominated and could have conceivably extended their lead but Hitchcock to pass inside to a flying Chisholm who had an open tryline. Momentum then shifted slightly as ill-discipline costs Wests, who gave away three penalties in a row.
The last infringement was 10 metres away from their line and in front of the posts, allowing Martin to kick the penalty goal and level proceedings at 14-all with just over 30 minutes to play. Wests talented young five-eighth Kade Reed though gave the advantage back to the Devils in the 61 st with a brilliant piece of play which saw him grubber though and regather the ball to score under the posts. Chisholm added the two see Wests skip to a 20-14 lead.
A limping George Jennings then crossed for the Devils fifth try of the match, which was converted by Chisholm to extend the Devils lead to 12 points with 14 minutes to play. The Butchers refused to lie down though with Bradly Deitz try, converted by Martin, again reducing the deficit to only six-points with 8.50 minutes on the clock.
Inspirational Wests half Chisholm though then cooly slotted a field-goal with just under five minutes left to see the Devils up 27-20. Dylan Palmer-Quigg iced the win with a try in the dying stages, much to the pleasure of player-of-the-match Dane Chisholm. "That was crazy.
It's such a great feeling," he said. "It's been such an up and down year, to finish on such a high was special. "We came in having won five on the trot I think but just to grind that one out was fantastic.
"It was the toughest 25 minutes that first 25 minutes, the boys just stuck with it and then we ended up scoring a few tries and applied a bit of scoreboard pressure and I think our middles and especially our bench done an amazing job. "Thirroul did a great job but we hung tough and got the win. And with our Reggies also winning, we've got the double so I expect a party at Parrish Park tonight.
" Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury.
It's been a great pleasure. Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years.
I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure. Newsletters & Alerts DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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