IT took just three words for Queanbeyan Kangaroos fullback Daniel Watt to sum up his side’s incredible Canberra Raiders Cup 17-16 grand final victory over the Queanbeyan Blues.
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“How about that.”
In those three words however, Watt could have been summing up so much more than simply 80 minutes of football.
Having just played his final game of rugby league before hanging up his boots, Watt could have been reflecting on his past five years at Freebody Oval.
Coming to a Kangaroos club in 2009 that hadn’t won a premiership in 24 years, Watt has since gone on to play in four consecutive grand finals for three premierships.
But knowing last weekend’s decider would be his last appearance for his beloved Roos, Watt said Sunday’s win had proved the icing on the cake.
“I’d say that was the best of them,” Watt said when asked how the Kangaroos’ most recent success compared to the side’s back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.
“Just the way we had to grind our way back into it and the closeness of the result. Knowing how hard we had to work for it made it that little bit better.
“It’s was a little bit more special for me personally out there as well. Whether I was in attack or defence, I’d get a little reminder that it was my last game so that was my motivation for the boys.”
Watt was one of three retiring players to take the field for the Kangaroos against the Blues alongside hooker Lee Welsh and prop Jeff Donald.
Donald was inspirational in the front row alongside Frenchman Sebastien Martins with the two bookends standing tall after fiery prop Matt Lewis was felled with a hamstring injury.
Along with Watt and captain Troy Whiley, Welsh, meanwhile, is one of just three Kangaroos players to have fronted up in every one of the side’s past four grand final appearances.
Coincidently, it was Donald who lured Welsh to the Kangaroos after two years spent playing bush footy followed by a serious neck injury had almost seen him call time on his career in 2008.
Three grand final medallions later, the 32-year-old said he couldn’t have scripted a more perfect farewell than Sunday’s extra-time victory over the Queanbeyan Blues.
“Considering I was going to give the game away five years ago, I can’t believe everything that’s happened since then,” he said.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to go out.”
How about that indeed.