Last Saturday I had a great lunch with four old mates I played rugby with during my one year (1975) at the then very new Tuggeranong Vikings club. Only one of them, Roy Egan, had ever played in a Rugby Union grand final before — a 4th grade one. Jim Shanks had been in a rugby league premiership in Grafton in 1969. (I was luckier, having played many years at Royals and been in quite a few as both a player and coach, and also winning two out of the three I was involved in at ANU/Owls.)
There are a surprising number of players across all the football codes who have never played in, let alone won, a grand final. It was good to see the local union competition grand final results shared among the clubs in what has been a strong year for local rugby.
So, congratulations to the Eagles, who beat Royals in fourth grade; Wests, who narrowly defeated Owls in their bid for a third consecutive third-grade premiership; Queanbeyan, who won a high-scoring Colts clash against the Eagles; Tuggeranong, who came from behind to beat Royals in seconds; and the all-conquering Wests Lionesses, who convincingly defeated Owls 43–12 in the women’s competition.
But as my old Royals junior coach, the legendary Dave Stafford, would say: “Who remembers who won fourth grade the year before? It’s first grade that counts.”
The Owls club is a combination of ANU/Canberra Uni and Norths, formed in late 2001 when Norths was about to fold. UNI was happy to take them on as an amalgamated club, inheriting two junior sides in the process. From there the club developed, and in 2003 won its first premiership in what was rather grandly called the “first grade second division competition” — essentially 5th grade. That victory allowed many ANU and Norths stalwarts, who might otherwise never have won a premiership after years of playing, to finally savour success — stalwarts like Daniel Hannan, current Owls President Dave Lucetti, Drew Miller and big Luke Jansen, to name a few.
The Owls have, for several years now, fielded the largest number of players of any club, with success in the women’s competition and lower men’s grades — but they had never reached a first grade grand final.
On Saturday, after a shaky start, the Owls hit their stride and ground their way on top of a very good Vikings side. The Vikings simply could not withstand the hard-running, driving forward play of the Owls in the second half, and by the 70th minute the score was 29–14 in the Owls’ favour and didn’t look like losing.
The First Grade competition this year was one where, on any given day, every team was capable of beating the top sides. The Owls spectacularly defeated Royals in the major semi-final, 59–19, before going on to win the premiership. Competition leaders Royals fell away at the wrong end of the season, but I’m sure they’ll bounce back in 2026.
Since the John I Dent Cup began in 1938, Royals have won it a record 22 times, followed by Vikings with 14 (including a joint premiership), RMC with 14, Wests with 13, Queanbeyan with 8, Norths with 6, and ANU and Easts with 1 each. And now, for the first time, the Owls have claimed their place on the honour roll with 1 premiership.
