The Jets went in as underdogs in Sunday’s decider at Collegians Sports Complex, but surprised more than a few with a 30-20 win over the Warilla-Lake South Gorillas. 

The reaction to the Jets win has been huge so far, but Wellington said it may be a while before they know just what it means to the community. 

“Everyone is really pumped at the moment, but if people are still talking about it in a few months; that will show how deep the community goes,” he said. 

Many youngsters dream of growing up to play in the NRL, which is something Wellington did with the Sydney Roosters in 2003. 

But as a Nowra junior, being captain-coach of the Jets first premiership winning team is hard to top. 

“It’s probably the best achievement I’ve ever had, even bigger than playing NRL,” he said. 

“It’s my home town, they’re all local players and we just made it happen.” 

Winning the competition is a massive turnaround for the Jets, who did not even make the semi-finals in 2013. 

Wellington put their transition from a lower-ranked team to premiers down to three key points. 

“Firstly, we had a proper pre-season and that gave us a lot more fitness at the start,” he said.

“Then there’s the Brandon boys. You can’t not single them out for the impact they had with scoring all those tries. 

“Then the other thing was belief. 

“We were one of those teams that started with the talent, but didn’t have the belief. 

“Once we started believing in ourselves it made a huge difference.”

Wellington said he wanted to say a personal thank you to all the supporters who travelled up to the grand final, especially his family. 

“To my mum, dad, brother and sisters and also my partner Sherese Thomas, I want to say a big thank you,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be able to do it without her support and I’ve been glad to have her there, through the ups and downs.” 

• Captain coach Ben Wellington missed a lot of the celebrations for the Jets win after suffering a compound fracture of his finger in Sunday’s grand final win, more details page 104 and full pictorial coverage of the premiership win appears on the South Coast Register website.