Gunnedah Devils right at home in Walcha

The last time Walcha hosted a grand final the Red Devils won the second grade premiership.

On Sunday they added the Tier 2 silverware to their collection with a 26-17 win over Barraba.

They had it in their grasp last year only to have it snatched from them by Scone in the dying seconds.

On Sunday there was  almost a sense of deja vu, with the Rams launching a late fightback.

They did most of the attacking in the last 20 minutes but they had too much ground to make up after a strong first half saw the Red Devils establish a 19-5 lead at the break.

That became 26-5 early in the second half, with co-coach Ed Howarth crossing for what was the try that sealed it for them.

“That early try helped our boys set it up and carry on the momentum of the first half,” Howarth said.

It was the killer blow for the Rams.

“That put a hole in things,” Rams coach Geoff White said.

“We didn’t need that.”

Howarth said the boys came out strongly in the first half.

“They stuck to the game plan and worked on Barraba’s errors,” he said.

“The forwards just cleaned out well and the support was great.”

He said at half-time they spoke about not needing to change anything from what they did in the first half.

“But our boys fell asleep and Barraba took advantage of that,” Howarth said.

Five-eighth Adam Mooney was named player of the grand final and directed them around well, he said, as did half-back Ben Maunder.

Maunder and Howarth were two of a handful of players backing up from last year’s side.

“For the blokes who played last year we knew how hard it would be,” Howarth said.

The Rams have been celebrating their 50th season and would have loved some silverware to commemorate it but just gave the Red Devils too much of a headstart, White said.

“We were in it in the first 10-15 minutes. We had the pressure on them,” he said.

But a few decisions went against them and they found themselves on the backfoot.

His message at half-time was they just had to stick with it.

“We just needed the ball,” he said.

“We didn’t have much ball in the first half.”

They did get more of it in the second half and produced some enterprising play.

“We had our chances,” White said.

“We made a heap of breaks but just dropped the ball.”

Eventually they did manage to convert one of them, with Jason Mack crossing for his second to  make it 26-12 following the conversion with about 13 to go.

They had a couple of chances after that, with Luke White at one stage bursting straight through but the pass to his support went to ground.

He and Jeremy York, who scored their final try in injury time, did spark them, and were among their best along with Pete Balmain and Jack McCarthy, but it was hard to single anyone out, White said.

“Everybody played well,” he said, himself producing a couple of mercurial touches.

He said it was a good effort to make the grand final.

They probably only trained three or four times through the year.