Winning is sweet, but there’s more to rugby league than lifting the trophy, says Anton Saltmere.
The champion captain/coach of the Mornington Island Raiders, who won Saturday’s Battle of the Gulf Cluster competition against Normanton on Saturday, said the pre-game scenes were a reminder of what the sport means to the Gulf communities.
Stingers players carried photos of loved ones lost over the past year, while Raiders players carried the jersey of a young player who passed away in a car crash during the season.
Players and spectators then stood and paused for a minute’s silence before the grand final.
“This is bigger than a game of footy,” Saltmere said.
“You can see how much it means to the communities and the families of those we’ve lost along the way.”
The 43-year-old, who was one of the best players in Mount Isa for the best part of two decades before returning to Mornington Island, praised the commitment of the Raiders players for going all of the way in an undefeated season.
“There is a lot of sacrifice,” said Saltmere, noting that some players had to leave Mornington Island on Thursday to be in Normanton for Saturday’s grand final, and some players wouldn’t return home until Wednesday because of the lack of available seats on the plane.
“I appreciate their commitment and they can only do it because of the support we have back home.
“The entire community is behind us when we travel to play.
“This win was for them.”
A match-up against Normanton in the grand final seemed probable for the Raiders, but they still had to watch the Stingers play out a tough semi-final against the Doomadgee Dragons earlier on Saturday.
The old rivals produced another classic arm wrestle, but it was the home side who prevailed in the end, winning 22-16.
The Raiders avoided having to play a semi-final after Moungibi Danggara forfeited earlier in the week due to a lack of numbers.
Saltmere thinks this might have helped Mornington Island in the long run.
“It definitely didn’t help us early as we were sloppy,” he said.
“We didn’t complete our first five sets.”
Yet that didn’t stop the Raiders from storming to an 18-0 lead at half-time through tries to Sorren Owens, Cranston Hill, Jackson Mow and Jacquille Chong.
The Stingers threw everything they had at the visitors in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.
Tries to Jarrod Don and Kahlem Rapson-Charger made it a respectable 18-8 scoreline at the final whistle.
Saltmere, who spent a large portion of the grand final on the bench due to cramping, praised the young players in his team, especially his rookie halves Jacquille Chong and Anthony Saltmere Jnr.
“The way they moved the ball around was unbelievable,” the captain/coach said.
“I thought defensively we showed up and that proved the difference in the game.”
Fullback Elijah Joe was named the player of the match.
The coach was full of praise for the young gun, who brought “great energy” to the side.