As posted on the WARL site:
WA TAKE SENIOR CROWN
Western Australia played their way to their eighth National Affiliated Champions Title in ten years beating Victoria in a never say die final. With the final score at 25 to 24 it could not have been closer.
At half time the scores were level at 12 all after WA gave away a 12 point start. The score got to 18 all half way through the second half before WA got to a 24 18 lead.
With 5 minutes to go, WA put over field goal to provide some breathing space which was needed as Victoria still hit back in the 78th minute to get within a point.
Coach Justin Nixon was exhausted, but well pleased at the end.
It was a bitter sweet victory for the boys after going down to Victoria last year, but one we desperately wanted to win. In the first half we did our best to give it away, but it was to our credit that we held it together and to get the title back feels like we are back to where we should be.
There was pride at stake as WA wanted to retain its crown as the premier Rugby League state outside of the heartlands of New South Wales and Queensland.
Best players in the final were hooker Dan Halligan with 2 tries and the forward pack in Arlin Paki, Rick Williams and Nathan Searle.
The local Harvey Norman Premiership competition had a general bye over the weekend as the seniors took on representative duties in Adelaide.
To get to the final playoff, WA played two lead up games. On Friday, they had a comfortable 38 to 18 win against Northern Territory. Ben Taylor at centre had a strong game with Jon Phipps in second row able to break lines consistently. Coming off the bench, Craig Phillis was also one of WAs best.
A confident WA side then recorded a big win against hosts South Australia on Saturday with a final score line of 74 to 6. Phipps again figured in the best players along with Arlin Paki and Clae Morgan with two tries.
Both WA and Victoria went into the final game unbeaten, with Victoria recording similar margins to WA in its wins. While WA has a superior scoring aggregate it counted little with both sides needing to win to take out the title.
WARL CEO John Sackson who was at the game said it was one of the best games of football he has witnessed.
To win the title as the premier Rugby League state outside of the heartlands was fantastic and backs up a similar win recently by our under 18 side. The is sound endorsement for the development of the game here a huge impetus for our future aspirations.
The additional bonus for WA was the inclusion of nine players out of a possible 20 for the National Affiliated States Team which tours Samoa shortly.
The players selected were Arlin Paki, Craig Phillis, Matthew Doeg, Delaine Edwards, Jon Phipps, James Blake, Nathan Searle, Tyron Cranston & Ben Taylor.
