Football superstar Alessandro Del Piero farewelled Australia with a camp in Wollongong, while Australia’s Four Nations rugby league team played a rare international game at WIN Stadium.

The Dragons lost a marquee player and the Wollongong Hawks crowned their third NBL MVP.

Mercury sports editor TIM BARROW reflects on 2014. 

1 Stars come out to play

It was a grand farewell for Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero when he lined up for the A-League All Stars against his former club Juventus at ANZ Stadium.

But Wollongong had the insight into Del Piero’s Australian swansong, hosting a camp for the All Stars players in the lead-up in August.

The squad played a friendly against the Young Socceroos at WIN Stadium, with Del Piero in the spotlight after he did not play in Sydney FC’s previous pre-season trial against Newcastle in 2013. 

The camp highlighted a huge year for Football South Coast, who are moving towards being part of a future A-League bid.

The South Coast Wolves hosted a first-round FFA Cup against A-League club Central Coast Mariners.

While the Wolves put up a spirited resistance, the Mariners won through a 12th minutes goal to Glen Trifiro in front of more than 6000 fans.

2 Four Nations

Australia had to win to make the Four Nations final against a Samoa outfit who emerged as a competitive force in the competition.

In front of a near-packed house of 18,456 featuring a huge Samoan community contingent, the Kangaroos triumphed 44-18, with Greg Inglis named man of the match after scoring two tries.

Australia dominated from the outset, marching to a 28-6 lead at the break, ensuring their path through to take on New Zealand in the final.

However, the Kiwis, playing on home turf in Wellington, exacted some revenge from the World Cup earlier in the year, surviving late Aussie comeback to win 22-18.

3 Can’t stop the Rot

The Wollongong Hawks may have had their struggles this season, but US import Rotnei Clarke was a shining light in 2013-14, winning the NBL MVP award.

Out-polling hot favourite James Ennis from Perth, who is now on the Miami Heat roster, Clarke was the driving force behind the Hawks unlikely surge the playoffs last season.

He finished fourth in the NBL in scoring with 21.4 points per game, made a league-high 95 three-point shots and finished third in free throw accuracy (81 per cent).

Hawks teammate Kevin Tiggs was named sixth man of the season.

Clarke became the Hawks’ third MVP in the club’s 35-year history. Mike Jones won in 1981 and Gary Ervin captured the top prize in 2011.

4 Gone to the Dogs

The Dragons fans always liked to show off the banner declaring they had the better Morris.

Now they have neither Morris.

Kiama juniors, Brett joined Josh at the Bulldogs next season, gaining a release and easing the pressure on the Dragons’ salary cap in the process.

It has caused a backlash among many of the Dragons faithful, letting go a winger who has scored 112 tries in 169 and helped NSW win a State of Origin series and Australia take out the World Cup.

It is yet to be seen whether Morris makes the switch to fullback or becomes a strike weapon on the wing in blue and white.

The Dragons are now trying to hang on to fellow NSW representative Trent Merrin as Paul McGregor attempts to rebuild the squad into a finals force.

It was a difficult year for the Dragons in the Illawarra, after the club reduced their WIN Stadium home games from six to four as part of the NRL’s controversial ‘Right Game, Right Venue’ strategy.

5 Tigers are tamed. Again.

A year after Helensburgh were left shattered with a one-point Illawarra Coal League grand final loss, Thirroul inflicted another nailbiting defeat on the Tigers.

The Burgh - beaten 29-28 by Collegians in 2013 - had a number of chances to hit the front on the second half in miserable conditions at WIN Stadium, but the Butchers tackled themselves to a standstill to secure an epic 18-16 victory.

It ended up being former Dragons, Queensland and New Zealand player Nathan Fien’s only season in charge of Thirroul, since replaced by Luke Swain.

After the game, Fien declared the gutsy defined the Butchers’ season.

‘‘I knew we had it in us. That’s what we’ve been doing all year, we’ve been able to grind out footy games,’’ Fien said.

6 Benny and the Jets

It was one of the most remarkable rivals in Group Seven history.

Last on the ladder after five rounds, the Jets clawed their way to the finals, then lost their first finals game to Shellharbour.

However, Nowra-Bomaderry would save their best for last, bouncing back with a heart-stopping victory over 2013 premiers Gerringong in the minor semi-final, before beating Shellharbour in the preliminary.

Refusing to be denied, the Jets shocked minor premiers Warilla to lead 20-nil in the decider, before holding off the fast-finishing Gorillas to win 30-20.

It was the first premiership for the club, which was formed two years ago, and Nowra’s first since the pre-merger Warriors won the crown in 1996.

‘‘It’s a real big thing for the Nowra community. It’s unbelieveable,’’ Jets captain-coach Ben Wellington said.

‘‘It’s one of those things that brings everyone together and makes them believe. When the feeling started building during the semis, everyone jumped on board.’’

7 King Henry

It was 14 years to the day since he celebrated winning the world outdoor singles bowls title, Jeremy Henry claimed his third successive World Cup crown at Warilla in April.

Playing on his home green, Henry beat fellow Australian representative Tony Wood 7-2, 8-7 in a nail-biting decider as Scotland’s Caroline Brown lifted the women’s title with a 7-7, 12-2 win over Alison Merrien.

Henry’s hat-trick was made more impressive by the fact he dropped just one match throughout the entire tournament against Scotland’s reigning world indoor champion Stewart Anderson.

‘‘To win it once you are happy, but to win it three times on-the-trot on your home green with all the expectation and all the build-up to the tournament is fantastic,’’ Henry said.

‘‘You are making sure everything is organised because that is all part of my job, and then to actually play in it and win it, there is a lot of things going through your head.’’

8 Students’ strive and succeed

University reeled in an early eight-point defecit to claim a 20-11 victory over defending champions Camden at WIN Stadium in September.

It could spark the start of a premiership dynasty, after three grade took home the silverware.

‘‘It’s a tight group. We had a squad of about 30 this year and implemented the system across the grades, and we’ve been rewarded with three premierships today,’’ Uni coach Shaun McCreedy said.

After finishing second in the regular season, they raised the bar in the playoffs, ousting minor premiers Avondale before conquering Camden in the premiership decider.

9 Fast and Furious

Bulli won the Illawarra Premier League championship, but suffered their third straight grand final loss, a title which has eluded them since 1986.

Dapto Dandaloo stole the grand final trophy with a 2-0 victory, with Shaun McRae and Joe Crowley finding the back of the net. 

It was Noel Spencer’s last game as a player for the Fury, going out in a blaze of glory with a man-of-the-match performance.

Spencer took over from Norm Boardman, who left the club to take charge of the Western Sydney Wanderers W-League team.

‘‘We spoke during the week about character, commitment and energy. The whole thing that goes into a grand final. The mental battle, which we know Bulli have struggled with in the past, so we knew the long the game went on, we would come away with the chocolates,’’ Spencer said. 

10 Keira emerge 

Keira ended a 26-year premiership wait in a controversial finish to the Illawarra cricket grand final, when play was prematurely stopped for bad light at North Dalton Park.

In a dramatic day which saw 115 overs, Keira posted 8-165, leaving University 30 overs to chase the target to snatch an unlikely title. 

Bradman scholarship holder Amit Balgi made 52 to lead Uni’s charge.

But the decision to effectively end the match seven minutes before 6pm followed 25 minutes of steady rain and fading light and came after Uni - at 7-142 - had just lost their seventh wicket, still needing 24 runs to win off 20 balls.

The result was a happy farewell for captain Graeme Batty - now playing Sydney grade cricket - who made 83 not out off 270 to help fend Uni off.

"We were urging the umpires to come off and Uni in our position would have done the same thing," Batty said.

"It was absolutely the right call. It was dark, very wet, the ball was wet and hard to grip.

"It wouldn’t have been right to go on."