ALBURY Public School's Jesse Carey kicked three goals in five minutes to steer his side to glory in the Paul Kelly Cup final in Sydney.
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With the decider in the balance, the son of former Albury premiership star Andy stepped up in the second half to guide Albury to a 4.1 (25) to 2.2 (14) win over Knox Grammar.
Albury won 14 matches on the way to collecting the title.
"It was a fantastic effort by the boys," coach Alex Takle said.
"Jesse had a real purple patch in the final, but I thought our evenness was the strength of the side.
"It's a fantastic end to a long, hard journey.
"I'm proud of each and every boy on the team."
While Carey stood out in the final, Lenny Koller kicked 14 goals in five games in Sydney and Oliver Mack and Jake Bauerle provided support further afield.
Takle said Albury's versatility was a strength with players asked to play in a variety of positions.
"We were able to move things around and not lose anything," Takle said.
"We made the regional finals in Wagga last year, so to come here and win in the manner we did just makes it all worth it.
"There's been a lot of training and hard work put in by the boys, and they had a really fantastic day at Giants Stadium."
GWS star Brett Deledio was impressed with the talent on show.
"I grew up in Victoria, where people live and breathe footy so to see a competition like the Paul Kelly Cup state finals take place at Giants Stadium is brilliant," Deledio said.
"There have been some seriously skilful young players out today from across NSW and the ACT there today."
The Paul Kelly Cup competition has been running since 2001 with St Patrick's winning the boys competition from 2011 to 2015.
Trinity was successful in 2016.
Meanwhile, Trinity's girls bowed out of the competition in the semi-finals in Sydney after a strong campaign.
