It was previewed as a potentially cracking grand final and on a beautiful day in Narromine it lived up to all expectations.

Played before a large crowd of enthralled spectators the players from both teams played 60 minutes of high energy entertaining football.

Cowra were first on the scoreboard after only two minutes.

A deep kick off from Jacob McNaught saw some good defence from Jake Cannard and Ben Edwards pin Mudgee deep within their 22.

A resulting scrum saw the Cowra forward pack put Mudgee under pressure and as the ball spilt out the side of the scrum, open side flanker Bryce Taylor pounced on to the ball and stepped the full back before scoring a nice try.

Mudgee were undefeated minor premiers this season and they showed their class by responding with two tries of their own through territorial pressure and aggressive forward running.

Both tries were converted and Mudgee had a 14 to five lead after 15 minutes.

Cowra responded as good teams do and crossed twice before the half time break.

First up outside centre Mitchell Budge crossed after good lead up work from Gahge Nelligan, Brad Coleman and Sam Apps.

The next try was scored in the corner by winger Jamie Sinclair after Drew Johnstone, Eli Richardson and Ty Ashe combined to send the flying winger away.

Jacob McNaught slotted both conversions and Cowra went in to the break with a 19 to 14 lead.

Both teams were exhausted at this point but the Cowra boys felt they had the physical edge over their opponents.

Mudgee were first to score in the second half when their big number 8 crashed over for a dubious try with Cowra's Riley Turner and Wade Newton appearing to have held the ball up.

The successful conversion gave Mudgee a 21 to 19 lead.

Cowra crossed next after Alec Corcoran made a lengthy break before he linked with Sean Simpson and Geoff Symons and finally the unstoppable Mitchell Budge who crashed over out wide.

Jacob McNaught slotted another difficult conversion to give Cowra a 26 to 21 lead with 12 minutes remaining.

Both teams really threw the ball around at this stage as the game hung in the balance.

It was here that Cowra's defence really stood up and frustrated the Mudgee team time and time again.

Bryce Taylor, Alec Corcoran, Nick Dix, Riley Turner, Sam Apps, Jacob McNaught and more made tackle after tackle until finally Mudgee cracked and big prop Gahge Nelligan sent Jacob McNaught in under the posts with two minutes remaining.

McNaught's conversion sealed the game at 33 to 21 in Cowra's favour.

A great effort from the Cowra team who won every game this year but their first.

Unfortunately the closeness of the game made substitutions difficult and several players got very little if any game time.

Nevertheless the contributions of these players throughout the year were massive and they should feel very proud of the role they played in a premiership team.

Well done boys. Savour the victory and we will reminisce at the 10 year reunion in 2024!

Cowra under 17s would like to thank their jumper sponsors Cowra Toyota, Beulah Machinery, Cowra Truck Wreckers and Bryant's Concrete for their support.