RUGBY UNION: A premiership is often a goal for amateur and professional sportspeople alike, some go their whole careers without winning the ultimate prize, but Whites third grade coach/captain Dan Hawke was lucky enough to lift the cup over his head twice in the one day.
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Hawke led his third grade squad to a 25-20 victory over the Vikings on Saturday, August 8 at Viking Park, and played the second half of the second grade game, where he set up of the match-winning try to secure a thrilling 29-28 point win over the Vikings once again.
"It's definitely a surreal feeling to win not only one, but two premierships," Hawke said.
"It was one of the best days of my life."
For the second graders Hawke said he was all but convinced the premiership had slipped through their fingers after a Tuggeranong try in the final few minutes put them down by four points.
The siren had sound, but a couple of penalties near the try line went the Whites way and Hawke made enough space for flanker Cameron Stanley to sneak under the posts.
"They scored with two minutes to go and I thought it was over, but our captain [Ryan Jones] just grabbed us and said 'Let's show them that Queanbeyan culture'," Hawke said.
"We lost one like that a couple of years ago, so it was good to get one back."
The Whites third grade side looked to be in control the whole match, but Hawke said it was his most stressful match of the day.
"It was the first year I was the coach/captain, so there was definitely added pressure," he said.
"To get it done first go was great. But it was more of a relief in third grade when we won because I had to play and think about how I could change our game, in second grade I could just play."
"We have a big mix of players in third grade, players who want to get into second or first grade and then there are those who just want to play socially. But we managed to make that work and it was our best performance."
Hawke said the club as a whole is overjoyed to win premierships in two grades and a first grade premiership is on the wishlist next year.