Although that was not to be, Ashford president Mick Lewis said he remained very pleased with the club’s junior side and thought they were in with a real chance against the Inverell Hawks at Varley Oval this weekend.

“It’s been a real neck-in-neck battle between the two sides all season, we’ve beaten them twice and they’ve beaten us twice,” Lewis said.

“There’s not much between the two teams and it’ll come down to who plays well on the day.”

President of the Inverell Hawks, Garry Lavender agreed with Lewis about the abilities of the sides.

“”These two sides ate always competitive,” he said.

“There’s nothing between them and I think it’ll be a very close game.”

Lewis said the club had been going for four years and it was only the second year it had fielded an under 18s side.

“They’re a very good, young side,” he said.

“The good thing about them is that a lot of them are only 17, so we’ll have them next year too.

 “There is some outstanding talent in the side, Luke French for example, he’s won the best and fairest competition for the whole group and the leading try scorer for the group. And he also won the leading try scorer in the first grade competition in the same year. And he’s still eligible to play both grades.”

Lewis said to have two sides in the grand finals was as many as any other side in the conmpetition.

“We’re very proud of that,” he said.

“Our first grade side got knocked out last week in a very close contest, so we could have had three sides in there, which would have been great for us, but to have the two, we’re very pleased.”

The Ashford Roosters League Tag side will take on the Moree Boars on the day, the third grand final in a row for the Roosters team.

“We’ve finished second in the competition, but we had an outstanding win in the major semis,” Lewis said.

“Our girls beat Moree Boars. So they’re in very good shape.

“If we can repeat that form I think we’re a really good chance.”