He's been coaching rugby for six years but under 14s leader Pete Roberts has never seen a side quite like the one he coached to a perfect season on Saturday.
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The Emus youngsters took out Cowra/Canowindra 19-12 in the grand final at Mudgee's Glen Willow Sporting Complex are cruising through the regular season with a points differential in excess of plus 400.
And while there were several routine victories throughout the winter, Saturday's decider was anything but as the men in green were pushed to their limits by a vastly improved Cowboys side.
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But, as the scoreboard indicates, the cream rose to the top as the resilient Emus eventually worked their way to a victory on the back of some terrific tackling from the big boys.
"The defence shown by our forwards won us the game," Roberts said.
"They dominated us at the breakdown and we expected them to be good there. Both teams really came out firing and were really up for it."
"Our backline has been really slick all season and if we can give them half a chance, they're usually pretty good.
"This is the best team I've ever coached. Even with rep teams included. It's the most well-rounded team I've been involved with."
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Cowra/Canowindra fell convincingly to Emus in the early stages of the season but after the Cowboys revamped their forward ranks, made it much harder for the greens this time around.
"They started the season with only 13 players and we had to lend them two of ours in the first game," he said.
"I was really impressed with them and it's a shame someone had to lose... I would have been proud of them if they won."
It was a challenging winter on the paddock for every code in 2020 but Roberts' kids had a common goal to go out there and have as much fun as they could.
"Our goal was to just enjoy ourselves, play footy and try to have a good season," he said.
"The boys never took their foot off the pedal and we obviously went through undefeated. We had a few games with 50-point margins and our for and against ended up being outstanding."
Emus under 16s were the other side involved in a grand final at Mudgee and the Stuart Brisbane-coached side prevailed 12-5 over the Mudgee Wombats.
The two sides played each other in the final round of the regular season and after escaping with a 21-12 win, the greens knew the decider would be another razor close affair.
The 16s became the second group of Orange Emus juniors to put the finishing touches on an undefeated season.
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