Emus co-captain Nigel Staniforth lauds whole-club grand final effort

The Emus skipper has won his fair share over the past decade, but his take on Saturday's 2020 title in a "crazy season" was simple: "It's surreal".

Not just for his first grade side, either, with Staniforth leading the greens to a 26-14 win over local rivals Orange City in the first grade title.

Emus claimed four from four in their grand final attempts on Saturday, with the Colts taking out a one-point thriller over the Lions and both under 14s and 16s claiming junior crowns in Mudgee.

"It's not just us, either, when I first got here we weren't that good in the juniors but we won 14s, 16s, 18s and first grade today," Staniforth said.

"We're very proud of those young fellas as well. When I first got here we simply weren't good enough in those lower divisions so we're very proud."

Season 2020 has been a massive effort for all clubs across every code, but Staniforth said Emus had pulled together something special.

"It's awesome, it's a beautiful club. I never thought I'd still be playing football at 39, when I finished in Sydney I thought that was it and I'd play maybe a year or two, but that's how awesome the club is and how much I love these guys," he said, gesturing to his teammates standing in the freezing rain after their 12-point win.

"We weren't too fast, we knew if we held onto it we had a shot, we had the wind in the second half and knew we could wear it down, we were fitter and just had a few more bigger bodies. We could have scored a few more, but that's final footy."

He said winning titles "doesn't wear off".

"Heaps of younger guys here who are coming through so we're all going to try and do it again next year," Staniforth said.

And - at this stage - he'll be going around again, in his 40^th year, saying retiring was the last thing on his mind despite a scare with testicular cancer re-surging this year.

"It's been a crazy season. Really happy for the boys and happy for the boys, and with my heath it's been an unbelievable year," he said.

"I don't really care, to be honest who cares about your last game? You want to enjoy footy and win that game. We'll see what happens, got a few things going on."