They finished 10th last season – now the Illawarra Cutters are the Intrust Super Premiership NSW champions.
The Cutters downed Mounties at Pirtek Stadium, Parramatta on Sunday thanks to a Drew Hutchison field goal that gave the St George Illawarra feeder club a 21-20 victory.
The Cutters will now take on the Queensland champions, the Burleigh Bears, in the state championship match prior to Sunday’s NRL grand final.
Adam Quinlan was named man of the match as the Cutters showed their intentions of playing a more expansive style of football early on.
In the first half the Cutters continually marched their way up field and led 16-0. But the Mounties hit back to go into the sheds at half-time only trailing by two points.
Mounties took the lead minutes into the second half when Jarrad Kennedy flicked a ball to Brenko Lee, who skilfully put it on his toe into the in-goal.
The Intrust Super Premiership NSW fullback of the year, Zac Santo, athletically dived to get a hand on the ball to set up a thrilling finish.
With less than seven minutes remaining, NRL-bound Hutchison slotted a field goal to take the lead for Illawarra.
Sam Williams attempted a field goal on the buzzer but it was waved away and the Cutters completed their fairytale turnaround going from 10th to first in the space of a year.