Sydney Uni American Football Club

Thode (66), Dorney (11) and Lim (56) were Wolfpack captains with the Pirates' Shannon Lynch (90)

The NSW Wolfpack won their fifth straight senior nationals with a 28-7 victory over the Victoria Eagles in the Championship Game on Friday night.  The Wolfpack roster was stacked with Lions players who made key contributions to the win.

Starting at the top, the Lions contributed three of the four team captains, with David Thode, Kiernan Dorney and Joe Lim joining Shannon Lynch from the West Sydney Pirates to lead the side.

On offence, Kiernan Dorney got the start at quarterback and took charge of a potent, no-huddle offence.  Matt Croasdaile joined him in the backfield and the pair ran a shotgun spread offence based around the zone read play.  The offence required good communication, good reads and clear heads, and the Wolfpack got all three from the starting backfield.  Dan Kelen also got time at quarterback and threw the final touchdown in the Championship Game to seal the win.

Louey-Gung (37) featured in the biggest play of the tournament - breaking up this pass into the endzone as time expired against the West Australia Raiders to preserve a 31-27 win

Lions players filled four of the five spots on the offensive line, with David Thode, Aaron Carbury, James Gifford and David Allen being joined by the Pirates’ Nathan D’Cunha in the starting roles.  The line played with poise all tournament, sending Croasdaile over 100 yards in each game. 

In the receiving corps, Liam Erby and Tristan Cauhepe started, with Mac Shine seeing plenty of action in the rotation and taking on the key role of long-snapper on special teams.  In all, the Lions provided 8 of the 11 starters on the top scoring offence in the tournament.

Dorney (11), Carbury (60), Croasdaile (33), Gifford (72) and Allen (53) all started on offence

And there was no shortage of Lions on the other side of the ball either.  Fady Aoun started on the defensive line in his fifth campaign for the Wolfpack and Ian Triganza and Piotr Milewski both made big plays and contributed big minutes at defensive end.  Chady Aoun and Tau Saipaia also got time on the line and on special teams.

Joe Lim and Greg Wernecke started at linebacker and gave their all in a typically committed performance.  First year man, Chris Noble, also gained valuable experience in a back-up role.

In the secondary, Leigh Louey-Gung had a huge tournament, taking two crucial interceptions in the Championship Game, while also breaking up the last gasp pass into the endzone by WA.  Kevin Trinh got a start in the Championship Game, as the Wolfpack added an extra defensive back into the mix, while Anthony Sinton and Suren Wickramasinghe also saw action in the defensive backfield.

Dorney (11) had a number of Lions receivers to go to, including Mac Shine (47) and Tristan Cauhape (83)

The Wolfpack were guided by Stephen Dunne, in his first campaign as Head Coach, with assistance from Ryan Wonser as defensive line coach and Jamie Owers as a team manager.

While this article has featured the Lions players and coaches, the club extends its congratulations to all of the Wolfpack players and coaches and wishes to stress that the Wolfpack was a true team which won the championship as a result of the effort put in by the whole of Gridiron NSW.

Liam Erby (17) came up big in the Championship Game - again - with two touchdown receptions