Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Grand Final for the 'real NRL' will be played in Newcastle on Sunday. To my great joy my own former club, the club my son plays for and the club my father and brother played for, will contest that Grand Final. The Cessnock Goannas will go head-to-head with the Newcastle based Western Suburbs club.

It was almost an all-coalfields Grand Final and no-one would have been more happy than me if we had been

playing Maitland on Sunday. It was not to be, but I am delighted to say that the Maitland club will contest the reserve-grade Grand Final, and I wish them all the very best. Of course, I wish the Goannas all the very best on Sunday, the players and the coaching and training staff. They have been the best team all year and they certainly deserve to be premiers in 2013.