Gerringong Lions and Albion Park Eagles crowned Wollongong Touch Premier League champions: 60+ photo gallery

In a fiercely competitive finals series, the Eagles and Lions prevailed in both their semi and grand final on the same evening, cementing themselves as the best touch local touch footy sides in Wollongong.

Scraping their way into the finals in fourth place, Albion Park weren’t to be counted out as they looked to defend their 2022 crown.

They looked the real deal as they knocked off the undefeated minor premier Thirroul Butchers 5-4 in the semi finals, before conquering Western Suburbs 5-1 in the decider.

The grand final was a back-and-forth grind early on, with the Eagles forced to hold on against an early onslaught.

Eventually the Eagles’ young legs came to the forefront and steered them to the try line, running in four second half tries unanswered..

Jack Lewis was a welcomed return for the Eagles and proved to be highly dynamic with a hand in a few tries, while Jack Lambert and Cody Hutchison provided plenty of strike, leading the way in attack and in defence to limit the Devils to just one touchdown.

In the women’s division, Gerringong would ultimately make their way to the crown without defeat all season, aided by the surprise appearance of NRLW superstar Emma Tonegato.

Born in Wollongong, Tonegato is fresh off her Jillaroos campaign, joining her sister Rach in Gerringong blue to absolutely carve up the field. With brother Luke playing for Thirroul, this meant there were three of the Tonegato clan tearing it up on finals day.

Gerringong got the better of their semi finals opponent the Stingrays of Shellharbour in a high-scoring 9-6 encounter, before moving onto the grand final with Dapto Canaries.

They would prevail 10-5 in a scoreline that doesn’t tell the whole story, with the game being an arm wrestle for three quarters of the battle.

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Ella McFarlane, Cara Zaremski and Vienna Randal were impressive for Dapto and looked to nullify Gerringong’s early lead.

But in the end the Lions would roar home, steered by the Tonegato duo, as well as player of the match Destiny Air.

Check out the photo gallery of the final day of action.

Originally published as Gerringong Lions and Albion Park Eagles crowned Wollongong Touch Premier League champions: 60+ photo gallery