After 80 minutes of Shute Shield Grand Final rugby of 2024, we saw another new winner since Randwick lost the Week 2 Finals last weekend. But today’s moment was all about the Eastern Suburbs who just ended their long 55-year drought since 1969 over the Northern Suburbs by one point, 36-35.
To begin with, Norths had some close battles earlier on when they led for a bit at one stage but Easts dominated most of the first half pie by 16 points, 29-13.
Now Norths began to play catch-up while Easts able to extend their lead a bit further on the scoreboard as this 20-30 min grand final came down to a close two-horse race towards the final front stretch where one will win & another will have to watch on with disappointment at the finish line.
In the end, that unfortunate last-minute TRY attempt by Norths was ruled as knocked-on by the ref when they were one point shy off the lead sums up this season-ending match, with Easts finally able to taste grand final winning glory for the first time in a very long time.
Congrats with the win by the way to Easts where they’ve got excellent players with some of their brilliant youngsters on the books at the Tahs while Norths came from a long way who knows what it takes to succeed in Finals footy from 6th spot.
Easts No.10’s Jack Bowen had a whirlwind 2024 from overseeing the Easts’ unbeaten campaign including today’s long-awaited Grand Final triumph to making some Super Rugby appearances for the NSW Waratahs. Gotta say he demonstrated excellent creativity that is paramount to the Easts’ counter-attack where you got some excellent wide players and forwards around him through the gate. We’ve that before when he was earning his stripes and like Teddy Wilson, he came back as a better player – more to come as the Tahs future 1st choice No.10.
Here’s another standout Easts player that you need to know and it’s Jamie Adamson from England who also put in a championship-winning display on the blindside No.6. Yes, he’s plying his trade here normally for work on weekdays but glad he brings top level World 7s experience from both England and Team GB to Easts that benefitted his team-mates & some juniors coming through the ranks. He was simply destructive with his towering height and physical skillsets both in attack and defense where Jamie nailed it right there to help steer his Easts clear off Norths.
And Norths outside midfield 13 Henry O’Donnell did the best he can to try and crack the code once again on what has been his second straight Shute Shield grand final at the same Leichhardt Oval venue. There’s a reason or two why Western Force wanted him under former Norths coach Simon Cron where he was blessed with the service being given on the counter-attack via his excellent running when looking for space & the way he beats defenders which is the same when being tested defensively. Yes, so unlucky when their reserve hooker just couldn’t nail it down at the in-zone but poor ball retention every time Norths lost/gave the ball away is what really consigned them to another Shute Shield runner-up finish of 2024.