THE Wauchope Blues started their 2014 campaign with a goal to try and achieve something that's never been done in the 94 years the club has been established and that is to win a third consecutive grand final.
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The Blues knew it was never going to be handed to them and losing big name forwards such as Chris Trembath, Adam McMurray and Justin Laurie was going to make the quest an even tougher one.
Having captain coach Robbie Trembath stick around for another year played a big role in keeping some of the more senior players in the team with the likes of Aaron Ison, Dustin Prosser and Anthony Coombes all hungry for another taste of glory.
After a long pre season the Blues took on the Port Breakers/Panthers in the first round of the 2014 group 3 competition. The game finished in a draw and was not the winning start the Blues were looking for. The Blues were soon to get their season going with a win the following week over Wingham Tigers.
"We've created a winning culture at Wauchope over the past few years," said Robbie Trembath on the Blues.
"That was something I didn't want to let slip this year after losing some big name players".
The Blues would go on undefeated knocking off their opponents each week in some close fought matches. That is until they first met with the Macleay Valley Mustangs up in Kempsey where the new comers to the competition were just too good winning the game 30-20. It would be the Blues first loss in nearly 2 years.
"Losing to Kempsey was a pivital moment in our season" Coach Trembath said.
"It made us as a team sit down and work out what we wanted for the year and who our main threats were".
Wauchope would then go on to win all but one of their remaining matches of the season, losing to Foster in the final game of the regular season. With a number of Blues players being rested for the semi finals the Foster Hawks were too good on the.
The win that stands out the most however is the victory over the Macleay Valley Mustangs in the second last week of the regular season. The winner would claim the minor premiership and earn the rights to a home major semi final. The match was a grueling battle with a number of incidents on the field resulting in players being sent from the field. Wauchope kept their composure and in doing so just proved too good for the fired up Mustangs on the day.
With semi final time knocking on the door the Blues enjoyed the first week off as minor premiers and prepared for a home final the following week. As expected it was the Macleay Valley Mustangs who the Blues would face in the match to claim a home grand final. This was it, what the team had been working towards all year and a third grand final was firmly in the Blues sights.
It wasn't going to come easy though as the Mustangs showed up to rain on the Blues parade. The sides fought try for try and it wasn't untill the final minute when Blues forward Carlos Kohu Martin streaked over the line to sercure victory and put his side into a third consecutive home grand final.
