Re-visiting the South West Rocks Marlins 2019 Hastings League premiership victory

Now it's time to head on over to South West Rocks and take a look at the mighty Marlins and their Hastings League triumph last year.

Unlike the Mustangs premiership success, the Marlins victory wasn't built up from one seasons work.

Both Sam Howe and Sam Drew took the coaching reins in 2018 with the priority of building a positive team culture.

Drew had been apart of the Marlins' last successful premiership side in 2015 before going on to coach the Mustangs' reserve grade team from 2016 to 2017.

The 2018 season saw the Marlins return to finals football however they bounced out in the first week after a 34-26 loss to close rivals Lower Macleay Magpies.

If 2019 was going to be their year, the Marlins coaching staff were very coy in lead-up to the season, outlining a finals aim without mentioning a premiership goal.

"We definitely want to be in the top five again and hopefully go deeper into the finals series," Drew previously told the Argus.

All the signs were looking good for the Marlins as they headed into what would be a premiership winning campaign.

"We are going to keep the same core group from last year, I have spoken to a few of the players and all signs are pointing towards the majority of players returning," Drew previously said.

"We now have a full season under our belts and hopefully we can continue to build on what we started last year."

Build on that they did, finishing second in the regular season.

The major semi-final saw them suffer a loss to minor premiers Laurieton Stingrays, with the focus now turning to a die-or-die clash with Beechwood Shamrocks.

Going out in straight sets would be a bitter pill to swallow for Howe and Drew as well as the Marlins committee after their hard work not only in the past two seasons but in 2016 where the club almost folded due to player departures after the 2015 grand final win.

The men from South West Rocks didn't disappoint, triumphing over the Shamrocks with a 28-24 win, holding off a late surge from the Beechwood side.

The Shamrocks challenge had been met and conquered, it was now onto the big dance with the Stingrays where winner takes all, the certainty of ultimate glory or ultimate despair.

The match didn't start well with Laurieton scoring out wide to give themselves a 6-0 lead.

A twenty minute try to the Marlins saw them level it up before being rewarded for withstanding a barrage of pressure from the Stingrays to score again, making it 10-6.

Jamhl Toby crossed over just before half-time to extend the lead and make it 16-6 at the break.

16-6 quickly became 20-6 with a Mick McPhillips try, however the opposition hit back in the 47^th minute to make it 20-12.

That was the last we'd see of the Stingrays crossing the try line with 18-year-old Marlins star Josh Trindall going the length of the field to make it 26-12 - Jesse Meehan making it 32-12 not long after with a brilliant solo try.

Marlins skipper Mal Webster then slotted a field goal before the man of the moment Sam Drew crossed in the final minute to complete the result.

"The feeling is hard to explain, we have all worked so hard over the last two years for this to come to fruition is amazing," Drew said after the game.

"We just stuck to our game plan and structure. We knew if we played our style of footy then there's no team in the competition that can stick with us.

"We played straight through the middle and ran over the top of them before running around them."

Drew added that it wasn't just the team out there that won, it was a victory for the club as a whole.

"We had 19 blokes take the field but it took all 30 of the players in our squad, our committee, staff and volunteers to get the victory," he said.

"We have the best committee and they have supported us immensely."

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