ALL the pain over the last couple of years was finally worth it for the Wauchope Thunder.
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Their women's team claimed the club's first-ever senior title on Saturday with an emphatic 55-0 shutout of Wallamba in the women's 10-a-side Lower Mid North Coast Rugby Union grand final.
Ellie Johnston crossed for four tries in an impressive performance that saw her awarded player of the match honours while Teleah Waitoa and Naomi George also contributed significantly.
But it was the performance of a few of their lesser lights that impressed coach Paddy Bowen.
"Everyone keeps talking about Ellie and Naomi because they're the ball-runners who score all the tries," Bowen said.
"But when you go back two or three phases you see players like Maddison Williams and Morgan Critchley who are tiny girls who got the turnover and have created that momentum.
"Morgan and Maddison had outstanding games and were doing all the hard work and setting up all the tries."
Bowen anticipated something special was brewing in the warm-up when he saw the steely determination in his side's eyes.
They wanted to avenge last year's grand final defeat and turn around a number of years where the club struggled to be successful in any senior grade.
"That's something we really focused on at the back end of the year," Bowen said.
"We talked about resilience and mindfulness ... especially resilience.
"Last year we played the grand final with only seven players and it went down to the wire, but those little things are important as a foundation for success."
The comprehensive 55-point drubbing will see the Thunder women's team claim their own piece of club history.
"Our under-10s won a premiership a couple of years ago, but this is the first senior premiership," Bowen said.
"In terms of the club's history, you're going to go down in the history books there which is pretty special."
Bowen will step aside to focus on Country duties next season, but he was confident the team was in strong shape to be successful for many years.
"This group of girls are such a close-knit group and are going to be the nucleus for the next couple of years to come," he said.
"It is just a really good time for women's rugby in Wauchope because we're getting the right mix of youth and experience.
"Whoever takes over next year will have a good platform."
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