Roosters Epic NYC Grand Final Comeback Victory
The National Youth Competition was the game’s elite Under 20s championship that ran for 10 years between 2008 and 2017, featuring teams from all 16 NRL clubs.
The Sydney Roosters, after running second last in both 2008 and 2009, were perennial finalists in the competition from 2010 to 2015, but only once (2012) did they advance beyond Week Two of the finals.
However, they entered the 2016 premiership with great hopes. A large number of the Roosters 2014 S.G. Ball Cup (Under 18s) premiership winning squad would form the nucleus of the 2016 NYC team, coached by the 2014 S.G. Ball Cup Coach Anthony Barnes and assisted by Anthony’s son Tait.
The squad would be captained by Nat Butcher, and would feature a host of players who would go on to play NRL. Latrell Mitchell, although young enough, was one player who would not play NYC at all that season, having established himself in the first grade team from Round One. Connor Watson, Jackson Hastings and Jayden Nikorima would play at times in the NYC team during the year, but would not qualify to play finals.
However, Paul Momirovski, Joseph Manu, Victor Radley, Grant Garvey, Jesse Marshke, Rueben Porter, Poasa Fa’amausili, Sitili Tupouniua, Ben Thomas, Butcher and Garvey would play in the Roosters Grand Final team and later play NRL.
Lachlan Lam, Ben Marshke, Shaq Mitchell, Adam Pompey and Jackson Frei are others in that squad, who would not play in the 2016 NYC Grand Final, but would play NRL in future years, whilst Joseph Ratuvakacereivalu would play tests for Fiji, but not NRL.
The Roosters finished 5th in the minor premiership with 14 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw.
The full season record for the side was as follows:
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/03/2016 | Round 1 | South Sydney | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 40 - 20 |
| 12/03/2016 | Round 2 | Canberra | Canberra Stadium, Bruce | W | 32 - 22 |
| 17/03/2016 | Round 3 | North Queensland | Willows Sports Complex, Townsville | L | 16 - 36 |
| 26/03/2016 | Round 4 | Manly | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 42 - 23 |
| 3/04/2016 | Round 5 | New Zealand | Central Coast Stadium | W | 44 - 6 |
| 8/04/2016 | Round 6 | South Sydney | Stadium Australia, Homebush | W | 36 - 16 |
| 18/04/2016 | Round 7 | Penrith | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | L | 4 -50 |
| 25/04/2016 | Round 8 | St George Illawarra | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | L | 26 - 38 |
| 30/04/2016 | Round 9 | Newcastle | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 24 - 16 |
| 16/05/2016 | Round 10 | Gold Coast | Robina Stadium, Gold Coast | W | 34 - 16 |
| 22/05/2016 | Round 11 | Canterbury | Stadium Australia, Homebush | L | 16 - 46 |
| Round 12 | BYE | ||||
| 11/06/2016 | Round 13 | Melbourne | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 42 - 20 |
| 19/06/2016 | Round 14 | Warriors | Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland | L | 20 - 40 |
| Round 15 | BYE | ||||
| 30/06/2016 | Round 16 | Canterbury | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 34 - 20 |
| 8/07/2016 | Round 17 | Parramatta | Parramatta Stadium | L | |
| 13/07/2016 | Round 18 | Wests Tigers | Leichhardt Oval | W | 20 - 14 |
| 18/07/2016 | Round 19 | Cronulla-Sutherland | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 38 - 28 |
| 23/07/2016 | Round 20 | Melbourne | Sunshine Coast Stadium | W | 44 - 32 |
| 28/07/2016 | Round 21 | Brisbane | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 38 - 24 |
| 8/08/2016 | Round 22 | Penrith | Penrith Park | L | 22 - 40 |
| 14/08/2016 | Round 23 | North Queensland | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 42 - 24 |
| 21/08/2016 | Round 24 | St George Illawarra | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | L | 24 - 25 |
| 27/08/2016 | Round 25 | Cronulla-Sutherland | Endeavour Field, Woolooware | L | 28 - 34 |
| 1/09/2016 | Round 26 | Brisbane | Brisbane Football Stadium | D | 22 - 22 |
| 10/09/2016 | Quarter Final | Canberra | Canberra Stadium, Bruce | W | 48 - 0 |
| 17/09/2016 | Semi Final | Cronulla-Sutherland | Canberra Stadium, Bruce | W | 28 - 18 |
| 23/09/2016 | Prelim Final | St George Illawarra | Sydney Football Stadium (old) | W | 26 -20 |
| 2/10/2016 | Grand Final | Penrith | Stadium Australia, Homebush | W | 30 - 29 |
During the season, the Roosters used 35 players as follows:
| Player | Season Games | Grand Final | Grand Final # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tristan Alvarado | 1 | ||
| Jarred Anderson | 22 | Left Centre | 4 |
| Jarrett Boland | 20 | Bench | 16 |
| Nat Butcher (c) | 24 | Lock Forward | 13 |
| Zac Cardassilaris | 3 | ||
| Luke Chalker | 17 | Unused Reserve | |
| Kiah Cooper | 27 | Fullback | 1 |
| Nick Cornish | 1 | ||
| Poasa Fa'amausili | 25 | Prop Forward | 8 |
| Bayley Faull | 13 | ||
| Brendan Frei | 12 | Bench | 14 |
| Jackson Frei | 3 | ||
| Grant Garvey | 25 | Hooker | 9 |
| Jackson Hastings | 8 | Ineligible | |
| Ryan King | 19 | ||
| Lachlan Lam | 7 | ||
| Bernard Lewis | 23 | Left Winger | 2 |
| Joseph Manu | 17 | Right Centre | 3 |
| Ben Marschke | 4 | Unused Reserve | |
| Jesse Marschke | 25 | Halfback | 7 |
| Shaq Mitchell | 7 | ||
| Paul Momirovski | 8 | Five Eighth | 6 |
| Brad Mullins | 5 | ||
| Jayden Nikorima | 4 | Ineligible | |
| Adam Pompey | 3 | ||
| Reuben Porter | 27 | Second Row | 11 |
| Victor Radley | 14 | Second Row | 12 |
| Sukamanu Raki | 23 | Bench | 18 |
| Joseph Ratuvakacereivalu | 8 | 18th Man | |
| Marlon Ritchie | 1 | ||
| Jake Steadman | 9 | ||
| Ben Thomas | 26 | Prop Forward | 10 |
| Johnny Tuivasa-Sheck | 26 | Right Winger | 5 |
| Sitili Tupouniua | 15 | Bench | 15 |
| Connor Watson | 4 | Ineligible |
Top Point Scorer: Jackson Hastings (8 games: 2 tries, 37 goals; 82 points)
Top Try Scorer: Bernard Lewis (23 games: 19 tries)
The team commenced its finals series with a 48-0 thrashing of 8th placed Canberra Raiders in Canberra. The Raiders team included future first graders Nick Cotric, Sebastian Kris, Zac Woolford, Jack Williams, Jack Murchie and Emre Guler.
The Roosters were back in Canberra for Week Two of the finals to play the 4th placed Cronulla-Sutherland. A 28-18 win, over a side featuring William Kennedy, Sione Katoa, Jesse Ramien, Isaac Lumelume, Jayden Brailey and Jaimen Jolliffe, qualified the Roosters for a Preliminary Final.
In the Preliminary Final the Roosters faced the 3rd placed St George Illawarra Dragons. The Dragons team included Matt Dufty, Partick Herbert, Izaac Thompson, Jai Field, Luciano Leilua, Blake Laurie and Reece Robson, but again the Roosters prevailed, winning 26-20 at the old Sydney Football Stadium.
The Grand Final would see the Roosters up against minor premiers Penrith, whom the Roosters defeated in extraordinary circumstances to win that 2014 S.G. Ball Cup Grand Final, 29 months earlier.
The Roosters played Penrith twice earlier in the season, going down 50-4 in Round 7 and 40-22 in Round 22. The Panthers coached by Cameron Ciraldo had a squad that included many future Panthers champions in Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Dylan Edwards, James Fisher-Harris, Mitch Kenny and Liam Martin and other future first graders in Wayde Egan, Billy Burns, Braidon Burns, Caleb Aikens, Oliver Clark, Christian Crichton, Kaide Ellis, Robert Jennings, Soni Luke, Tyrone May, Sean O’Sullivan, Jack Hetherington and Corey Waddell. It was a youth team, the likes of which we will never see again.
The Panthers, who won the minor premiership by five points, losing just four games, recorded 40 points or more in 10 matches during the season and finished the season with a points differential of Plus 469.
Their Grand Final team, although missing a number of these players, still included Edwards, Martin, Egan, Waddell, Luke, May, Crichton, Ellis, Clark and Braidon Burns.
Very few gave the Roosters a hope, particularly after the Panthers led 28-6 at half time, and Roosters hooker Grant Garvey couldn’t return for the second half after dislocating his shoulder. The Roosters were forced to move their youngest player Victor Radley to hooker and bring Sitili Tupouniua off the bench to replace Radley on the right edge.
This is how the Roosters website described the 30-28 comeback win that shocked so many (see link to story).
A full replay of the match can be found HERE.
A Grand Final highlights package is HERE.
The Roosters Grand Final gallery is HERE.
Here is the Roosters team singing the team song after the win:
Captain Nat Butcher, the RLPA NYC Player of the Year, won the Jack Gibson Medal for Player of the Match. It capped an extraordinary season for Butcher, who dominated the competition that season, and also made his NRL debut.
In 2026 we celebrate the achievements of this team, ten years on, and the vital role it played in developing so many future Roosters stars. It’s such a shame that this competition would only last one more year before being replaced by state-based championships. However, of all the NYC winners it will be the 2016 Roosters that will be the best remembered.
