RUGBY LEAGUE
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As they look to avoid missing the finals for the first time in nearly two decades, this crop of Thirroul Butchers need only look to the hill for inspiration at Gibson Park on Saturday.
It's a short straw for any side who draws Thirroul on their annual Old Boys Day but Collegians face an even tougher task this week, with members of the Butchers 1995 premiership winning side to gather on the hill.
The Butchers have won five premierships and featured in every finals series since Mark Taylor's men went undefeated through the '95 season to end a 22-year premiership drought.
That result transformed the club from also-rans to finals regulars.
"It was just one of those years were it all came together," Taylor said. "They made the finals the year before under Brett Jones and that was the first time we'd made the finals in seven or eight years and before that it was a long time.
"I played in the '80s and we were pretty much coming last the whole time so ['94] was a bit of a resurgence for the club and that catapulted us into the next year.
"All the juniors were coming through into grade and we knew we had a pretty special team.
"We had a really well balanced side and they were mostly local guys and I think that was the key."
The Butchers were given a scare in the grand final before finally emerging victorious over Wests 23-22 in a thriller.
"I was a nine-year-old kid when they'd last won under John McCarthy so, come the grand final, it was 22 years since we'd won a premiership," Taylor said.
"We must have felt some pressure ... we were behind 16-6 at half-time and we hadn't been behind at half-time all year.
"The whole town got behind us and a lot of people had been with us through the hard times so it was great to give them that reward."
Taylor and rest of the '95 squad will watch the Butchers fight for a place in this year's finals against Collegians who upset them just two weeks ago.
Coach Luke Swain said it was crunch time for his side.
"If we can't fire up for this we don't deserve to be there," Swain said. "We want to keep it in our own hands. We don't want Corrimal winning or losing a game to decide our season that we've worked so hard for.
"We need to go in with a bit of momentum and it has to happen now because it's pretty much do-or-die time."