The Marlins managed to christen their trophy cabinet with a comprehensive victory against the Magpies who have previously enjoyed success in the pre season tournament.

New signing Owen Blair Junior was a standout for the side with a hat trick of tries in the final, bringing his tally to seven in the tournament.

He was joined in the try fest by his dad Buddy Blair who proved a real handful with charging runs to the try line and two tries to his name.

Marlins president Geoff Ball said he couldn’t have asked for a better performance from the side.

“It was a great weekend for us,” he said.

“Owen Blair jnr is proving to be a really good pick up for us but all the boys did their jobs well.”

It was the second big winning margin for the Marlins on the day with the side beating the Port Boardriders 40-6 in their opening match to progress to the final.

The Magpies also had a strong start to the afternoon with a 22-4 victory over Beechwood.

 During the first half of the final, Lower Macleay had the majority of the run of play with handling errors and bad field position giving the Magpies territory in the Marlins territory.

The first points of the game came through a penalty to the Magpies after the Marlins threw a opportunist pass in Marlins territory leading to a knock on.

The Marlins were under pressure in defence from a good Magpies attack which lead to a penalty right in front of the posts.  The Magpies took the 2 points to take an earlier lead 2-0 around the 10th minute.

But with the resumption of kick off the Marlins game changed.

 With possession the Marlins launched an attack down the grand stand side of lank bain oval and Blair Jnr sliced through the Magpies defence to score. Blair converted his own try to take the score to 6-2. Marlins forwards lead by Tony Duncan took control of the ruck with strong running. With quick plays of the ball, Blair found open space again and ran 50 metres to dive in the corner from the covering Magpies defence.

There was more bad news for the Magpies as injuries to two of their forwards left them with just 13 players to complete the game.

 As with previous encounters between the two sides, there was no shortage of intensity with one player from each team finding themselves in the sin bin for 10 minutes from referee Rod Copp.

 Buddy Blair took the Magpies on with a barnstorming charge to the try line to score under the post giving the Marlins a healthy 22-2 lead going into the half time break.

 During the first half new Marlin centre Reuben Dufty showed the Marlins contingent he will be a player to watch in 2015 with excellent attack keeping the opposition bamboozled and his defence from dummy half outstanding.

 During the break Marlins Captain/Coach Grant Schubert told his players to play a simple game plan and protect the lead.

With the resumption of play, forwards Wane Sines, Les Lockwood, Mick Judd and Duncan played simple forwards game with strong runs through the ruck with quick play.

With the Magpies undermanned, the Marlins quick backs took full advantage with attacking breaks from Daryl Thompson and Dufty figuring prominently.

 Marlins halves pairing Grant Coleman and Geordan Smith controlled the attack around the ruck to give the Marlins speedsters clear runs to the lines in a dominant second half performance.

 The Magpies scored a consolation try with the final 48-6 Marlins way giving the Marlins their first ever trophy.

Magpies treasurer Sonja Murphy said while the final result wasn’t ideal, the players did well under the circumstances.

“They didn’t give no matter what the score was which was great to see,” she said.

“New signing Kea Pereira was brilliant in defence. He is proving to be a great asset to the club and brothers Tom and Toby Stevenson were also great in attack and defense for us. Another new signing Trent De Gioia was also great taking the ball up and making some great tackles as well. All of our players gave it their all the entire game and never gave up despite the lack of interchange players and what the scoreline may indicate.”