After two pandemic seasons of lockdowns, bubble restrictions and ultimately, in 2021, the first cancelled Shute Shield competition since World War One, worn-out Sydney club coaches were looking forward to the rhythms of a “normal” season this year.
They didn’t get one. After the drama of a called-off Shute Shield last year, coaches’ nerves have continued to be shredded this year in the shape of the closest season in living memory.
So intensely fought has the Shute Shield season been in 2022, nine of the 12 teams were legitimate finals contenders for most of the year, with only seven points separating the third and ninth-ranked sides. After an average margin of 23.8 points per game last year, the standard deviation was a miserly 11.2 points this year.
But after a year when anyone could beat anyone, and did, just two teams remain – Gordon and Sydney Uni. Via tense finals paths, the clubs will do battle in the grand final on Saturday afternoon at Leichhardt Oval, and there are shorts odds on it also being settled by less than a single score.
“I had five years in the Brisbane comp and it was nowhere near as competitive as this,” Uni coach Sean Hedger said.
“But I think even people who have been in the Shute Shield for years have said this year has been an absolute anomaly. Two of our losses were to a team that didn’t make the final eight, and I remember West Harbour were coming last and they beat Manly, who were coming first. I think in years to come people will look back at this year and talk about it.”
Sydney Uni’s Sean Hedger and Jack McCalman, and Gordon’s James Lough and Brian Melrose, pose with the Shute Shield.Credit:Karen Watson
Veteran Gordon coach Brian Melrose, who took over from 2020 title-winning coach Darren Coleman last season, says it’s the closest Shute Shield he has seen in his 59 years.
“There has never been a more even comp. Since I was a little kid, being a ballboy and as a player … the competitiveness of the competition, even when we played Southern Districts and West Harbour, they’re the best bottom-placed teams I have ever played in any relative competition,” Melrose said.
“Every week it felt like you were coaching for your life, and most coaches would have felt the same. I have spoken to a few and at the end of the season, you’re just worn out.”
Melrose says the burgeoning number of professional leagues around the world shopping for players in the Shute Shield has levelled out the haves and have-nots, talent-wise, and the work done to build up Western Sydney and Newcastle has also been a big boost to the competition. But with no easy weeks anymore, it’s made life hard.
Gordon hooker Mahe Vailanu trucking the ball up in a qualifying final win over Norths.Credit:Karen Watson
“It’s meant it wasn’t just physically exhausting, it was mentally exhausting for the boys during the year,” Hedger said.
Gordon captain James Lough said: “You couldn’t sit there and write games off like you may have in the past. From the bottom of the ladder to the top of the ladder, you have to be switched on or you get knocked off. All the top teams were knocked off at some point by teams lower on the ladder.”
Jack McCalman and James Lough at Leichhardt Oval.Credit:Karen Watson
Uni were undefeated at the point of cancellation last year but, technically, Gordon remain defending premiers from 2020.
But to earn a chance to defend their title on Saturday, the Highlanders had to do it the hard way. They were in a massive hole in the first half of the year, with just three wins in the first nine rounds.
“We’ve had 11 sudden-death games. With eight rounds to go we were 10th, in the closest comp in history,” Melrose said.
“It was an incredible finish. We were certainly looking uphill for a fair while but we had a day at a time mentality. I suppose on Saturday most people would think we are second favourite.”
Both clubs have a smattering of Super Rugby players, with Mahe Vailanu, Harrison Goddard and Jack McGregor at Gordon, and Chris Talakai and Tom English in Uni’s team. But unlike previous years, the game won’t be decided by a mass influx of Wallabies and Waratahs for one of the sides.
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