Wallace Sullivan.
The Hawke's Bay premier rugby league title returned north of the twin rivers when Napier Pirate Panthers beat Omahu Huia 22-6 in Saturday's grand final at the Regional Sports Park, Hastings.
In some cases it was well north as clearly the best drilled and numbered side in the four-team, nine-week spring-season competition successfully mixed the fitness of some of the club's top senior rugby union players with the natural flair and guts of several players from Raupunga rugby side YMP and Wairoa league team Tapuae.
The input of the northerners was profound at the Panthers' prizegiving night afterwards in the Napier Pirate clubrooms, with prop Leon McEntee being named player of the year and utility back Tione Hubbard the most valuable player.
For a rugby league team formed just three years ago, the side did however pack a good measure of experience in the 13-man game with captain Aidan MacMillan, McEntee and forward Jono Culshaw having all previously won the rugby league title with now defunct club EITSA.
In the William Nelson Athletics Precinct grandstand changing room after the final, which was refereed by former Hawke's Bay Unicorns wing Shane Foster, Panthers coach and former Unicorn Wallace Sullivan couldn't sort a player-of-the-day, the honours going to the team.
But MacMillan might have nominated the coach, saying as he walked triumphantly from the field the result was a tribute to Sullivan in drawing the side together and keeping players to a twice-weekly training regime, when others clearly struggled.
The competition lost three of its seven teams at an early stage, leaving the other four to jockey only for the semi-final playing order, and MacMillan said: "We were a lot fitter than the other teams. That's down to Wallace's training. Ultimately, the game proved to have been won with tries to hooker Matt Hill and Culshaw in the first half-hour, both converted by lanky standoff David Neilson, creating a 12-0 lead at halftime, in front of a scattered crowd of about 400 people.
The margin was extended when Neilson added another two points to a try by McEntee eight minutes after the break.
Omahu, a stalwart club bolstered with a small number of players from folded Hastings and former regular title contenders Tamatea, and including such Unicorns as Richard Eagle and Richard Gillies, had kept within range with some good defence, and bounced-back with their only try, to centre Shane Tipu, converted by Chas Nuku.
But the hopes ended in the last 10 minutes, Omahu a man-down through a player suspension and the Panthers completing the scoring with a try two minutes from the end to fullback Matt Murtha.
Beaten 40-10 by Outkast in last year's final, Panthers had a bye and a win by default to open the 2014 season, and lost once in their seven played matches, a 32-28 defeat by Omahu in round-robin play.
They substantiated their claims with big wins over Omahu and Outkast in the two matches leading into the final.
Earlier, Kahuranaki had their first grand final win, claiming Reserve grade honours with a 32-26 win over Outkast Sports, who came back after a 26-8 halftime deficit to seriously push for the top prize.
Tamatea scored a fifth consecutive women's title by beating Omahu Huia 40-10, after it had been 16-10 at halftime.