INVERELL Highlanders came home from Gunnedah with the points on Saturday after taking down the Red Devils 13-5, in what Highlanders’ president Peter Davidson described as a tough game.
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“It wasn’t a pretty win, a lot of mistakes were made from both sides, but the defence from both sides was good too, and that leads to not many points being scored,” Davidson said.
“We want to make it to the top tier, but we’re not there yet.”
He said Gunnedah always played well at home.
“It’s a hard place to get a win,” Davidson said.
Another hard place to get a win was at Rugby Park in 2006, when the Inverell Highlanders won their first home grand final in the club’s 100 year history when they played Moree.
To celebrate that victory the highlanders will hold a reunion on Saturday, June 4, when Moree will play the Highlanders at Rugby Park in round six of this season’s draw.
2006 Highlander captain Dave Kearsey now plays for Port Macquarie, but he said he will certainly be at the reunion and had some strong memories of a day that went down as an epic in Highlander club history.
“As captain of the day it was very special for me personally,” Kearsey said.
“Above that, it was very special to the club and all the people who had played for the club for all those years. It was just good to win it and give it to them.”
To get the chocolates at the end was more relief than anything.
- Dave Kearsey
Kearsey said it was a day that everyone involved, from the ball boys to the fans, would not forget.
“It was just a day with plenty of stories that are slowly getting exaggerated,” he said with a laugh.
“Plenty of stories, because at that time we were playing against one of the greater Moree sides that had won many premierships.
“We came off aching all over that day.
“The other players on the field were all pretty exhausted and that was the year that every player put in 120 per cent for the whole year.
“To get the chocolates at the end was more relief than anything.”
He said he was than caught up in the celebrations that went on for days to come.
The team did not have long to wait before their next premiership, it won again at Tamworth in 2008, again with Kearsey as captain.
He said stories at the reunion would probably be blown out and exaggerated, as any rugby player would know, but the reunion was mainly for people who carry a bit of a special bond (even 10 years later) to get together and shake each others hands.
