While the White Eagles’ grand final triumphant was a stunning all-round team display, Riku Iwauchi, Kotaro Higashi and Shohei Okuno left a lasting impression on all those who were present at WIN Stadium on Sunday.

The trio played their part in all four of the White Eagles’ goals in a memorable 4-2 win over Kemblawarra Fury. 

Iwauchi notched up an impressive brace – the first of which was assisted by Higashi, who worked tireless alongside White Eagles skipper Vaughan Patterson and Robbie Del-Banco.

While his Japanese compatriots were good, it was Okuno who truly stole the show with his man-of-the-match performance. The mesmerising attacker is undoubtedly destined for bigger things next season and capped off a stunning campaign with two highlight reel goals.

His first was a super effort from 25-yards before he fired again from range with a free-kick in the second half.

Okuno then turned provider at the death for Iwauchi’s second to cap off a stellar display. 

Allport was glowing in his assessment of his Japanese trio. 

"It has been a joy to watch them play and the way they link up together,” he said.

"We have improved as a side linking in with them as well. That has been frustrating at times for some players because they'd runs and not necessarily get the ball but that improved as well.

"It is an eleven man game but, they are quality people. They have been good to have around and they enjoy the interaction with us.

"It has been really good."

On the biggest stage of the season, Allport struggled to fault any player in his team.

“It is a quality squad there and they just had a belief that they were never going to lose that game,” he said.

“Sho got two, Riku got two but everyone stood up.

“Defensively we had to be on our medal because they threw everything at us. It was a well deserved victory.”

Allport also couldn’t speak highly enough of his rivals on Sunday. 

"I thought they were really, really good," he said.

"I thought they would come at us but I didn't think they would as hard as they did. It just shows what a quality club they are.

"They gave us a hell of a game today and it was too and fro for a long, long time. Have a look at the last three or four minutes, they didn't stop trying."

For Allport, the grand final victory caps off a remarkable debut campaign at the helm of the White Eagles. After a slow start to the campaign, the coach was ecstatic how things worked out.

"If I think back, we were losing players left, right and centre and we had eight points out of the first seven games. I thought, I don't know if I can do this," Allport reflected.

"We just clicked. We kept persisting the way we wanted to play. We believed in it. They followed through with it.”