Mid Western take trophy

Mid Western and last year's Southern Districts titleholders Mid Northern battled out a physical, intense game, which was poised to go either way for much of the 80 minutes. But Mid Western held on to win Saturday's final, 21-12, in front of 1500 vocal supporters.
Winning skipper Adam Clarke gave an emotional after-match speech in which he paid tribute to former coach Kevin "KJ" Lewis.
The inspirational coach helped Mid Western to a grandfinal's berth in 2009, when Mid Western lost to Wellsford, before he died in September last year.
Many of the current team played under Lewis' tutelage, and it was fitting his contribution was noted in their moment of glory.
Fresh at the helm this season, coach Simon Cauty, aided by Clarke, fine-tuned the youthful Mid Western team to see them raise the Joe Morgan Memorial Trophy for the first time in 49 years.
"It was our commitment that got us here this season," Clarke said. "We have so many talented players - we always have had them - but commitment was something we talked about at the start of the season, and we played with it all year."
Mid Northern were the benchmark team for Mid Western, filled with experienced old heads and Clarke said he felt the game could have swayed either way at various stages in the match but his side held their nerve.
After a scrappy first half, Mid Western led Mid Northern, 10-6.
first five-eighths David Holwell put Mid Northern in front early with two successful penalty kicks, before losing prop Dylan Horne to the bin halfway through the first spell, for a head high tackle.
Mid Western blew an early chance of a linebreak with a mix up on the wing, and had another chance to score 13 minutes before halftime from the set piece but Mid Northern's defence saved a try, but forced a penalty.
Mid Western fullback Luke Muggeridge, who had missed two earlier penalty kicks, hit his stride and nudged the ball over the posts to claw back the score to 3-6.
After Holwell missed a penalty kick 50m out, Mid Northern turned down another kickable penalty to manufacture and lineout drive, which did not pay dividends.
With five minutes left in the first half, Mid Western regained possession and right wing Saxon Samuels took a punt, chipped ahead and chased. He couldn't recover it, but first five-eighths Dan Wells nabbed it, flicked it back to Samuels who finished off with a try on the left flank. Muggeridge's conversion put his side up 10-6 and Mid Western head into the first half with their tails up.
With Mid Western's game beginning to open up, another blow came early in the second half when Calem Chanboon was sinbinned for a late charge and Mid Northern were once again down to 14 men. Following another successful penalty kick by Muggeridge 50m out on the angle, Mid Northern's dominant forwards marched over the line with 21 minutes to go, but the try was disallowed by referee Boris Julina.
Mid Northern took some solace when Holwell kicked a penalty to close the gap to 13-9.
Both sides battled through the first half, with excellent defensive efforts. Mid Western did well to prevent Chanboon from scoring when he returned from the bin, and again, when Mid Northern looked sure to score off a lineout.
Holwell booted his fourth penalty, in front of the posts to take the score to 13-12, with seven minutes left to go in the match but Muggeridge gave his side a little room to breathe again with a successful penalty kick of his own - ill discipline costing both sides throughout the game.
Mid Northern threatened to pip Mid Western until the end, but it was Wells' try from an intercept at the halfway mark in the final minute that decided the end result.
Following the game, Holwell said despite the result, it was great to be involved in a club grandfinal after sitting out a few due to Northland duties. "There was a lot of emotion in that game, Mid Western have been gearing up for this for three years now and they have made themselves and the club proud."
Mid Northern tried playing with a bit of width in the second spell to get around Mid Western's quick backline, and despite making plenty of breaks, Mid Northern couldn't get around - or through - their defence, Holwell said.
"It was a good effort from our guys though. They never gave up - right to the final whistle," Holwell said.
Result: Mid Western 21 (Saxon Samuels, Dan Wells tries, Luke Muggeride 3 pen, con) Mid Northern (David Holwell 4 pen).