On their way to the final, NSW defeated Victoria (4-nil), Western Australia (6-2), Australian Defence Force (11-1) and South Australia (9-1) – as well as drawing 2-all with Queensland.

This put them into a semi-final against Western Australia, where they cruised to victory 4-1.

In the decider, against the only team they hadn’t defeated during the tournament, NSW was dominant.

After a goalless opening 20 minutes, NSW quickly opened up a three-goal buffer with goals from Benjamin Ferguson (24th minute), Michael Dillon (25th) and Luke Witchard (29th).

Nicholas Milne (52th) and Taylor Dolbel (68th) added further goals to cap a dominant week for NSW. 

The NSW men have now won the Australian Country Championships for the last five years, and their dominance throughout the week showed.

Following the 5-nil win, both Schofield brothers were named in the senior men’s Australian Country representative team.

This competition also featured former Kangaroo Valley star Christie Underwood in the women’s ADF side. 

The ADF women’s side edged out NSW for the first time in 20 years 1-nil in the pool rounds and were unfortunate to lose in a penalty shootout, after their semi-final finished 1-all. 

The ADF women then went onto beat South Australia 2-1 in the bronze medal match.