Cover Photo: Kiama Knights Facebook

Tallon Smith

A scintillating finish to the first half created a 78-year first as Kiama claimed back-to-back Group 7 titles with a dominant 40-10 victory over Albion Park-Oak Flats in the grand final at Centenary Field on Saturday.

Four tries in 18 minutes set the tone for a dominant 30-point victory, which marks just the second time the Knights have claimed consecutive titles in their history, and the first since their run of four straight from 1945 to 1948.

Kiama captain Tom Angel described going back-to-back for the first time in nearly eight decades as a “special” moment for the squad, club and community.

“We’re only the second Kiama team in history to actually go back-to-back, 1945 to 1948 was our last back-to-back premiership, so [there’s a] pretty special feeling around not only the club but the town as well,” he said.

After a physical start to the match, star of the show and four try hero Ryan Hodgson opened the scoring 19 minutes in, before five-eighth Sam Hooper landed a kick in front of winger Tom Atkins, who controlled the ball soccer-style to double Kiama’s advantage to 12-0 four minutes later.

Hooper then broke the Albion Park line and raced away to score a stunning individual try for the side’s third in eight minutes, with Hodgson crossing again before the break to extend the Knights’ lead to 24-0.

The one-way traffic continued to start the second half as Hodgson scored his third before Angel put the side 36-0 ahead nearing the three-quarter mark of the match.

The Eagles finally hit back with two late tries, the first through Jack Talbott off a pass from Drew Hutchison, followed by another to Billy Hayburn to avoid a total shutout.

In the end however, it was simply Kiama’s day, with Hodgson crossing near full time to finish with four grand final four-pointers and leave the final margin at 30 points.

After the Eagles dominated the regular season, losing only twice to claim the minor premiership, it was Kiama who proved to be their bogey team, defeating them three times in the space of five weeks in the final competition round, major semi final and grand final.

Angel said it was “super satisfying” for his side to win all three matches and prove they were the better side head-to-head, after Albion Park and Gerringong set the benchmark for the majority of the campaign.

“They set the standard for the whole year really, them and Gerringong, and it kind of took a bit of pressure off us I guess, being the defending premiers,” he said.

“Everyone let us slip off their radar and we got to play chase, and we love playing chase.

“We love teams writing us off, we love people writing us off, so it was good to knock them over and to knock them over in such convincing fashion.”

By far and away the most surprising display on the big day was that of Hodgson, who crossed for a remarkable four tries in a season-best showing.

Angel said the interchange forward’s efforts even surprised him, with the captain admitting he lost count of how many times he crossed the line.

“I knew he had scored at least two, and when he scored the last one on full time I was like ‘he’s scored a hat-trick’, and the boys were like ‘nah, that’s his fourth’, so I was surprised with the fact that he’d scored four as well,” he said.

“Hodgo had a blinder … but I think that was very much set up by the fact that our middles played so well, he just reaped the rewards off the back of that.”

However, despite Hodgson’s dominance on the scoreboard, player of the match honours meanwhile went to Knights playmaker Hooper, who produced two try assists in addition to his superb solo effort.

“Sam Hooper, our five-eighth, he had an absolute blinder, he was phenomenal,” Angel said.

In the lower grades, Shellharbour Sharks took out both the reserve grade premiership with a 28-12 win over Albion Park-Oak Flats and the open women’s tackle 9s 10-4 triumph over rivals Shellharbour Stingrays, while Stingrays claimed the under 18s crown with a 26-10 victory over Berry-Shoalhaven Heads.

KIAMA 40 (Ryan Hodgson 4, Tom Atkins, Sam Hooper, Tom Angel tries; Brad Killmore 6 goals) DEFEATED ALBION PARK-OAK FLATS 10 (Jack Talbott, Billy Hayburn tries; Talbott goal) at Centenary Field, Saturday September 26.