But it was the boys in red that won the Mount Isa Rugby Union Premiership. 

The grand final score against Warrigals was 14-8. 

Euros captain Maren Huntley said he believed the grand final victory was secured in the final 10 minutes of the game. 

“Even though we were losing our scrums I felt our defence was on top of their attack, but that was just how I felt,” Huntley said. 

“I felt maybe the last 10 minutes we had the game. I trusted our boys, we all trusted each other even when we were down to 14 men.” 

Huntley said the game had been fun be a part of. He said the initial strategy – foiled by Warrigals under pressure – was to play through the forwards to give the back line a front foot. “And hopefully score some tries and go from there.” 

Through this the Euros were able to get the majority of possession in the first half. But the captain acknowledged plenty of missed opportunity with the possession 

“We didn’t use it to the best of our ability,” he said. 

“Again, Warrigals threw everything at us and made our play pretty hard to execute.” 

In the half time break the Warrigals’ coach Rob Peters rallied his players by noting the other team had more control of the ball. But the score margin was not as high as it could have been. 

“They dominated that half because for whatever reason, they push past us,” Peters told them. “Possession is about 70-30, so full credit it is 8-5. “Our defence is keeping us in that game...we need to start to dominate.” 

After the game the Warrigals captain, Kurt McGregor, said their possession increased because they kept the ball in the rucks and did not let as many turnovers happen. 

“So we were allowed to apply pressure a little bit more. We kept them on the back foot with penalties.” 

The Mount Isa Rugby Union awards were presented by president Tom Robertson after the grand final, with all going to Euros players. Scott Perrin was best forward, Marty Paulson was the best back, and James George was best and fairest.