The Mackay Magpies under-11s have enjoyed the most memorable night of their short rugby league careers, winning the 2014 Laurie Spina Shield, presented by Guildford Coal, at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday night.
A try early in the 25-minute grand final, played out in front of thousands of league fans prior to the Toyota Cowboys’ NRL clash with South Sydney, gave them a 4-0 win against Townsville Brothers to earn the Magpies the shield for the first time.
It capped off an outstanding two days of football which saw the Magpies finish their five pool matches unbeaten with an amazing record of 45 tries scored and just one conceded.
They then came from a try down to beat Upper Ross Rams 24-4 in the quarter-finals before making it to the decider by edging out Western Lions from Townsville 12-8 in the semi-finals.
Brothers ended the run of the Burleigh Bears 8-0 in the other semi.
Two other Townsville Brothers teams as well as defending champions Centrals Tigers qualified for the final eight as pool winners.
The Magpies’ victory makes it four straight years that the Shield has been won by a North Queensland club following on from Centrals (2011 and 2013) and Innisfail Brothers (2012).
