THEY might be hard to spot among the 26,500 Cowboys fans, but there will be at least two people from the shire representing the famous black, white and blue in Townsville on Saturday night.
Helen Baxter from Kirrawee and her year-old son Alex will be making the 2,111-kilometre trip north as Cronulla look to continue their charge towards their first premiership in their 48-year history.
Ms Baxter, bred in the shire, said she had spent years sitting on the hill at Woolooware waiting for the Sharks to finally celebrate their maiden triumph.
She said she hoped Sharks fans wouldn’t have to wait much longer.
‘‘This playing group just seems to have that ‘we’re going to go all the way’ mentality,’’ she said.
‘‘We’ve had a couple of hiccups [but] in recent years, definitely in my adult life this is [the best Sharks team I’ve seen].’’
Ms Baxter, a member of the Cronulla Sharks members council, said she had good reason to make the trip to Townsville after missing out on watching the Sharks the last time they made the finals in 2013.
‘‘The last time we were in the finals I was eight months pregnant with Alex,’’ she said.
‘‘I wasn’t allowed to travel. And there’s just a feeling that this is the year.
‘‘I wasn’t going to miss out this time.’’
A number of other die hard Sharks fans will be making the trip to support the team who are two wins away from appearing in their first grand final since 1997 — just the fourth in their history.
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