RETIRING prop Brendon Simpson has felt all the emotions of Newcastle Rugby League grand finals.
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The low of Saturday's 36-point loss to Maitland, the high of breaking a 27-year premiership drought with Souths in 2016, holding the trophy aloft as captain in 2018 after missing the decider with injury and watching 2020 following a COVID-impacted season on the sidelines.
But after more than a decade in the Newcastle RL competition, Simpson hung up the boots after leading the Lions' charge one last time.
The 32-year-old reflected on those title showdowns while sitting in the dressing sheds at McDonald Jones Stadium, still wearing his beloved No.10 jersey.
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"The big one was 2016. At the time it had been 27 years since Souths had won a grand final and plenty of years since Souths had even challenged," Simpson told the Newcastle Herald.
"Some of the old blokes, the feeling around the club, winning that game, grand final day - it was super special and writing history for Souths.
"I count 2018 as a premiership [for me], but not winning a grand final. It was unfortunate not to be out there but at least [today] I got to go out there and play again rather than missing another one."
Simpson, who made his first-grade debut in 2010, was grateful to end his playing career in a grand final despite the Lions going down 46-10.
"I've had 14 years in the Newy comp and I'm really proud to go out in a grand final, the boys really treated me there," he said.
"The last couple of years a few of the older guys finished in the last home game of last round game.
"It's not the way you want to go out unfortunately [loss], you don't want to have 40 points put on you, but to go out in a GF with my family and friends here is nice."
In terms of the 80 minutes against the Pickers, Simpson simply admits "they were better than us".
"They were just really good and executed really well," he said.
"They got a few good bounces, like a kick goes through and goes straight into someones hand, and a few 50-50 calls went heir way, but at the end of the day they were better than us.
"We didn't turn up ready to go and I'm proud of the way we fought back I suppose, we didn't switch off."
Souths trailed 38-0 at the break but fared better in the second half, up 10-8.
The Lions finished second on the ladder and won 13 of their last 16 appearances.
"We knew in November, December [last year] that we had a squad that could challenge. The thing that makes it taste a bit better is that no-one else seemed to think we could," Simpson said.
"We didn't have a great start but once we put our footy together, started playing the type of footy Bobcat [coach Andrew Ryan] wanted, it all came together.
"At the end of the day we only lost x amount of games all year and got through to here."
Josh Callinan
My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury.
My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury.
