RUGBY LEAGUE: Seals set sights on second grand final

HAMISH BIDWELL
If in a week or in six months' time, Willie Young wants to back away from the post-match prediction he made on Saturday, then fair enough.
Amid the excitement and emotion of his Eskview Seals' maiden Rugby League Hawke's Bay grand final victory, Young allowed himself to be hoodwinked into predicting his team would do something no-one has been capable of since the game returned from recess.
"Well, I gotta say that we're going to come back and do it back-to-back next season," Young said after the 36-28 win over Western Suburbs.
"When you win a grand final, you've got to say that - even though I'm not sure we'll have a lot of the old heads next year."
But should they go, Young says he's confident the brand of football the Seals played this year will entice a few more rugby union players to come over to the real blokes' game next season.
"I think we will have enticed a lot of players to come over and play this game," he said.
"Just looking at the way the Aaron Hamiltons and Josh Mahonis have played, we've showed how that different style can be successful here in rugby league.
"Once I knew we had guys like Josh choosing to come over and play, I knew we really had something special this season."
Mahoni, the Taradale rugby union star, was outstanding on Saturday. Whether coming out of dummy half, or running off Hamilton's shoulder, his yards repeatedly took the Seals out of trouble and onto attack. And while Young said he was full of admiration for the way the winger had adapted to the game, both he and captain Wallace Sullivan said it was the memory of former teammate Des Thompson that provided the real impetus.
"Our season hasn't been the flashest and it's been a rough road to get here," Young said.
"But we always had our mate in the back of our heads and one of the biggest things for us this year was to do something for somebody and that was him.
"That pushed us on as a team, especially in the last two weeks.
"His birthday was two weeks ago and things like that made us go that little bit harder. At training on Thursday night, Dessie was on their minds and this morning, when the boys read the paper, it was there again. "I'm just over the moon."
On the other side of the coin, Suburbs player-coach Richard Eagle was a broken man after the final, convinced that he'd let down their legion of supporters. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Eagle has provided a shining example to all of what can be achieved through hard work and belief.
"I honestly believe we could have played better than that," Eagle said.
"I know we could have but, in saying that, we've come a long way and we were never supposed to come this far. But I'm kind of ashamed that we didn't bring it home for our families, who all stood up for us during the season.
"If you knew what our gameplan was, you'd know that we didn't play to it. But hats off to the Seals. The better team won."