“Words can’t describe how proud I am of the boys”, were among McGrady’s comments in the aftermath of his team’s 42-28 grand final loss to the Inverell Hawks at Varley Oval last Sunday.

McGrady’s sentiments were understandable given that the Boggabilla club won eight and drew three of its first 11 matches and tasted defeat only twice on its way to finishing the round-robin season in first place.

In its debut year, MacIntyre proved the find of the Group 19 season, regardless of Inverell ultimately securing back-to-back titles.

The newcomers gave the defending champions an almighty scare in the decider, with the Warriors having a great chance of winning as they trailed 30-28 after a tit-for-tat opening 51 minutes.

McGrady acknowledged that “we had our chances” but that the Warriors struggled for field position during the second half, while neither team could sustain the momentum for long at any stage during the contest.

McGrady felt he had let his team down when he earned a stint in the sin bin as the Warriors still trailed narrowly with a little over 10 minutes remaining, before the match slipped further out of MacIntyre’s grasp.

The dismissal of MacIntyre’s captain-coach was one of several decisions which displeased Warriors fans, but McGrady acknowledged the victors as well as the fans.

“Our supporters helped us get through the year,” he said.

“I’m not taking anything away from (the) Inverell (Hawks).

“They’re a really good team. They turned up on the day and got the job done.”

When the Warriors first contested the Hawks, the new club won a high-scoring shootout 48-46 before MacIntyre’s first loss was to Inverell, 30-22, in round 15.

Inverell beat MacIntyre 33-20 in week one of finals before the Warriors booked their grand final berth with a 31-24 win over Ashford in the preliminary final.

With many of the MacIntyre players in their maiden year of first grade, McGrady said the Warriors would “definitely be back bigger and stronger”.

“I can’t wait for next year,” he said.