Inaugural A grade victory celebrated

To make the day even more of an occasion, they also stole the U23s (B grade) premiership in the preceding game, becoming the first local club to take the double.

It's been 31 years since the A Grade and B Grade broke the premiership drought so the club organised a reunion at their Gorilla Pit headquarters on Saturday afternoon. Gymea was also the first Sutherland Junior League Club to have its own purpose built clubhouse.

Wise old heads gathered for round two of the 2021 Junior League season, with Gymea's Open Age Gold team taking on Como Crocs at the Corea Street ground.

Gymea, which had defeated De La Salle in the first round, started well but Como pegged them back and took the lead. Just like the inaugural Grand Finalists, however, they came from behind to win 26-16 and now sit on the top of the ladder.

In the famous victory at Shark Park all those years ago, it was 12-all in the last minute of extra time at Shark Park when Craig 'Skinny' Martin stripped the ball from an opponent in a late Cronulla-Caringbah charge at their line, sprinting 80 metres to score and go down in Gymea folklore.

Martin arrived at the reunion late to a round of applause and said the last-minute victory try was the longest 80 meters he ever ran.

Captained and coached by Martin Stone, John Little was the star of the Gymea show back then with former Sharks grade player Howard Jansen also a member of the team.

The U23 victory caused more of a ruckus with the previously undefeated Sutherland team sticking up posters declaring victory in the week before the match - surely a recipe for disaster.

Coached by Illawarra and St George player Kev Kelly, the Gymea team that day was captained by Todd Steele who was among a handful of past or future Sharks players including Steve O'Connor and Andrew Sams.

To make Sutherland's day even duller, a wreath was dutifully delivered to their clubhouse on Mad Monday to mourn their loss.

Longtime Gymea club stalwart Peter Hadfield said Skinny Martin's A Grade try against the run of play was a special finish to a great day in the club's history, adding" "Hopefully, we can take the top prize again this season".