North Sydney captured their third successive reserve grade title and their fourth in five seasons when they overcame Newcastle, 5-4, in a gripping reserve grade grand final. Former international Peter Jackson was the hero for the Bears with his late field goal breaking the 4-all deadlock. Earlier, the Knights, playing in the clubs first grand final in any grade, had missed numerous scoring opportunities through indecision and nerves.
The win was Norths third victory over Newcastle in four matches throughout 1993.
The Knights may have won the minor premiership, but it was Norths who went into the grand final as favourites, as their wealth of big-match experience was expected to give them the edge. Players such as Paul Conlon, Adrian Toole, Les Kiss, Jeff Doyle and Jackson were all dab hands at big-match football, while the Knights were novices by comparison.
The match brought down the curtain on the career of Jackson, who had been plagued by a neurological disorder throughout 1993, as well as Kiss, while Doyle and Knights Tony Kemp and Rodney Howe were all heading to England. The premiership victory was a triumph for coach Peter Mulholland, in his last coaching assignment before tackling the challenge of introducing the Western Reds into the expanded competition in 1995.
Grand Final:
Norths 5 (Mat Toshack try; Peter Jackson field goal) defeated Newcastle 4 (Tony Kemp try), September 26, 1993.
Scrums Norths 6-5. Penalties Norths 4-3.
Referee: Bill Harrigan.
Norths: Paul Conlon; Paul Smith, Chris Caruana, Mat Toshack, Les Kiss; Jeff Doyle, Mark Soden; Adrian Toole, Alan Wilson (c), Josh Stuart, Tony Hearn, Jamie Mathiou, Peter Jackson. Interchange: Bernard Wilson, Gary Edwards, Matt Skene. Coach: Peter Mulholland.
Newcastle: Robbie Ross: Darren Treacy, Michael Eager, David Smith, Tony Herman; Tony Kemp, Andrew Johns; Rodney Howe, Max Chapman (c), Steve Crowe, Damian Driscoll, Paul Marquet, Wayne Richards. Interchange: Tim Maddison, Damian Gibson, Peter Graham.
Coach: Robert Finch.
