Lambton Jaffas defender Luke Virgili saw a grand final finish as a bonus when he told teammates before last Sunday's preliminary final against Broadmeadow that this would be his last season.
Now the decider against Maitland on Sunday is set, Virgili is eyeing a fifth championship as potentially the sweetest of his career.
At 32, Virgili, a project manager, has decided to step away from the Northern NSW NPL to spend more time with his wife, Brittany, and two-year-old daughter, Ayla.
"I feel fine and I've been finishing games, especially now that I've moved central to centre-back," Virgili said.
"I think my performances have been there this year but it's not about that.
"It's always a hard balance with the NPL. It's a bit of a commitment with training three times a week and especially this year with the changing schedule, it takes a toll.
"I told the boys before the Magic game that that was what I was thinking. I just wanted to try and finish on a grand final.
"It would obviously be great to win, but for my last game to be a grand final, I can't really ask for much more than that."
It will bring to an end a 14-year stint in the top league for Virgili, who spent 13 seasons at Broadmeadow, where he played in five grand finals and won four. They included special victories alongside his younger brother and former Jets winger, James, and earlier with his father, Robert, as coach.
This year Luke and James added to a strong contingent of former Magic players at Jaffas, who edged out Broadmeadow 2-1 in the preliminary final.
"I was lucky to win a grand final with [James] at Magic in 2018 and that was a box I wanted to tick, because I was also lucky enough to win one with my dad as coach earlier," Luke said.
"That was one [James and I] wanted to tick off and if we could win one again, at Jaffas this time, this one might be a little bit sweeter given where we are and the stage we're at in our career."
And he believed the vast grand final experience in the Jaffas squad would be an advantage on Sunday at No.2 Sportsground.
"Looking at our squad there's a fair few grand finals in it and I think it's experience going into these games that you can't take for granted," he said.
"It's a big factor in these one-off games with a bigger crowd than normal and everyone builds it up to be a huge game. Sometimes I think it can get the better of people.
"With the experience we've got and the times we've all played in grand finals, I think we'll be leaning on that."
Virgili has been part of a pivotal defensive effort to make the decider. Jaffas kept a clean sheet against Newcastle Olympic in their minor semi-final win and they put in another impressive display against Magic.
"That's probably what we needed, to get through," Luke said.
"I think through the whole year we were pretty solid defensively. I think we had the best defence in the league until that last game against Maitland, which blew it out a little bit.
"But I think defence has been one of our strong points.
"It's going to be big thing this weekend with the two boys [Braedyn Crowley and James Thompson] Maitland have got up front."
