CAPTAIN Troy Stonestreet is confident Newcastle's days as a yo-yo club are over after winning the club's first A-Grade Division One Pennants title in 14 years.
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Newcastle edged out unbeaten defending champions Merewether 5.5-2.5 in the final at Charlestown on Sunday.
The victory capped a massive 12 months for the Fern Bay club, which took out the division two pennant in 2019 to secure promotion to the top level. Now the aim is to defend the championship.
"After a win, the boys are keen to stay together," said Stonestreet, who was a non-playing captain this year after being a part of the 2019 outfit. "The aim is to keep the core of the team together as well as inject some young blood along the way to give them experience with the older, harder heads."
Sunday's final went down to the wire. In the end, Stonestreet was grateful for the experience of Tom De Witt and the persistence of seasoned trio Bruce Hill, Chris Turnbull and Daniel Terry.
Top two Josh Robards and Terry took control of their games early on the way to strong wins over Andy Piggott and Craig Jones.
Luke Ferrier and Scott Telfer were also solid throughout.
However, de Witt and Hill came from behind to seal the win. De Witt beat Nick Zuccon one-up on the 19th and Hill squared his match with Matt Lister.
"For a long time it looked like the match was headed for four-all and a play-off," Stonestreet said. "We had Luke Ferrier, Scott Telfer, Daniel Terry and Josh Robards up after nine holes and playing very solid.
"Tommy came back from three holes down at one stage to get equal on the 18th and then he won on the first play-off hole. Bruce Hill did the same. He was three down and fought back to finish square on 18 but wasn't required to play the extra hole."
De Witt, a former pro, returned to the pennants team after a few years away.
"His experience came to the fore," Stonestreet said. "He told me on the 10th that he was hitting average on the front nine but he managed to find his swing towards the middle of the round.
"One of the most satisfying things was for guys like Bruce Hill, Daniel Terry, Chris Turnbull. They have been stalwarts of the team for 10 years."
Lochie Carins and Mackinley Sullivan posted Merewether's two wins.
"Merewether are a top bunch of boys," Stonestreet said.
"It was a tense day but they were gracious in defeat. Credit to their young guys Mackinley Sullivan, Nick Zuccon and Lochie Carirns. They were solid all year and fought to the end every week."
** It was also a tight affair in the division two final, where Pacific Dunes edged out Muree 5-3 to complete an undefeated season.