Resilient is the word which comes to mind for Joe Williams when thinking about his St Johns Dubbo Under 15s Gold side and they were just that on Saturday.
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The Williams-coach under 15s Gold side took out the Group 10 title on Saturday at Mudgee's Glen Willow Stadium, defeating Bloomfield Tigers 20-12.
Not many juniors sides in Western NSW can say they are coached by an ex-NRL star but for Williams, he was just proud to see the group of young men develop as people over the course of the season.
"They are a really resilient bunch of kids, sometimes at the age of 15 going into a grand final it can sit in your head a bit too much and you are worried about the outcome," he said.
"All week I hammered to the boys that nothing changes with our head, it just changes with our body, we just have to run a bit harder and tackle a bit harder.
"There are individuals that are a bit more relaxed and then those who let it sit in their head a bit much, it was a really different dynamic of kids but there are super talented.
"I'm just so happy for them because the team that finished third and fifth were the ones in the grand final, no one expected those teams to be there."
Williams admitted he spent some time away from footy outside watching his children play but said this group of players has reignited his passion for the sport.
"You see how much hard work they put in, they turn up and do anything you ask them no matter how challenging the training session is," he said.
"They are kids who just do what you ask of them as best they can, when they mess up they just try harder."
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"My coaching philosophy with kids is that it isn't about footy, I think it helps with the work that I do," he said.
"My philosophy is that better people make better players, if I can help you improve your life a little bit, I don't care about results.
"Winning is nice but losing happens too, I just care about those young blokes who at 15 years old are at a crucial point in their lives.
"It's just about making sure their heads are good during the week, looking after them and having safe and vulnerable conversations."
Playing outside their normal Dubbo District Junior Rugby League competition due to there being no under 15s division, St Johns Blue and Gold represented the club during the Group 10 season.
Of the two Dubbo teams, St Johns Blue finished minor premiers but we were knocked out in consecutive weeks.
However, St Johns Gold came from third on the ladder to take the title with Jonah Moss, Matari Kelly, Chase Williams and Darcy Neave all crossing to score in the win.
Playing against new teams was a challenge not only for the squad but for their coach as well, who was often having to change the game plan on the fly.
"It was a good standard of footy but it was also a new challenge each week because you don't know who you are playing against," he said.
"When you play in the same competition your whole life, you know who you are playing against, you know who the best players are and you know what you've got to do.
"Every week we were turning up to play teams we had never seen before so that in itself can create some different challenges around having to change the attention of what you are doing halfway through a game.
"Everything I speak about with our boys is about just trusting the process we are working on, never at any point during the season did we think we couldn't win the comp.
"Everyone else thought that we couldn't do it but we thought we'd always be there on the last game."
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