Cache #41
THE COORDINATES ARE NOT CORRECT - IT IS NOT FAR AWAY THOUGH, BUT DON'T STOP AS THIS IS A BUSY ROAD!
Jack "SuperCoach" Gibson coached the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks between 1985 and 1987 and in 1988 made the famous quote "Waiting for Cronulla to win a premiership is like leaving the porch lamp on for Harold Holt." Cronulla always operated on a shoestring budget and had many great players, but had never managed to win the competition since its entry in 1967.
So when Cronulla made the NRL Grand Final in 2016, there were a lot of pictures of porch lights on social media from Sharkies fans. And thankfully, as a fan, they won what has been described as one of the more exciting grand finals in recent years and finally got a premiership in the trophy cabinet.
I watched the game in the beer garden of the pub at Wollombi and the last 20 minutes was some of the most nerve-wracking football that I have watched (and there have been a few close games where the result was the other way). Their was a lot of joy and relief when the final siren went - this was the first time a team that I had been supporting had won the premiership (I was a kid when Parramatta beat the mighty Newtown Jets in 1981). There were a lot of new Sharks jumpers being worn around Sydney over the next few weeks.
This a cache to celebrate that win and to bring another rugby league themed cache to this AFL mad part of the world.
The cache can be found at the following coordinates (where the answer is a letter use the usual formula A=1, B=2, etc. to calculate the number):
South 36 AB.CDE East 146 FG.HJK
A Number of Premierships Cronulla had won before 2016
B The final score of the game was 1?-12
C The Melbourne Storm had scored ? points by half time
D Not counting the Super League Grand Final in 1997 (where the competition was split), Cronulla's last appearance in a GF was in 197? (they lost to Manly Warringah in a replay after a draw in the first game)
E First letter of the surname of the player who scored the barn-storming try in the 69th minute that proved to be the match winner (and should have been man of the match)
F Second letter of the surname of the player who did win the Clive Churchill Medal as the best player on the ground
G The Round in which the Sharks record-breaking 15 game winning streak started (and the Storm's first loss for the season)
H In the first round of the finals, Cronulla beat the Canberra Raiders (in Canberra) 16-1? to move directly to the preliminary final
J Ben Barba was probably the best player for the Sharks in 2016, and though he had a quiet grand final he did score the first try off a great scrum play. The number of games he played for Cronulla in 2017
K The crowd at the Grand Final was recorded as 836?5
The cache is less than 20 metres from a main track, so some stealth is required (though you shouldn't have to worry about bikes descending on you). Is a typical camo sistema container and contained a pencil at time of placement - but always best to have your own writing implement.
Enjoy! (and "Up, Up Cronulla; The boys in the Black, White and Blue!"
FTF - Congratulations TheClazzas