Mackay had the honour of captaining NSW at the tournament played at Lismore from July 10-17.

The host state opened its campaign with a 4-3 win against Victoria, thanks to goals from Daine Richards (second minute), Samuel Mudford (10th), Rory Walker (35th) and Brinley Gallagher (56th).

NSW continued its winning ways on day two, coming back to defeat South Australia 3-2, after trailing 2-nil at half-time - with Ky Willott scoring the winner in the 60^th minute.

NSW, after a day off, returned to the field on July 13 and thrashed ACT 8-nil, with former St John the Evangelist Catholic High School student Dolby scoring the opener in the fifth minute.

These three strong wins set NSW up for a quarter-final showdown with Tasmania.

Thanks to a Walker hat-trick, NSW cruised to a 6-nil win and booked a semi-final clash with South Australia.

Unlike their match-up earlier in the tournament, NSW came out all guns blazing, to run away with a 6-1 demolition - with Mackay and Dolby scoring in the 46^th and 58^th minutes respectively.

These five straight wins pitted them against old foes Victoria for the national title.

In the decider, the visitors opened the scoring in the 15^th minute through Craig Marais, before Sam Gray's strike, in the 27th minute, cancelled it out.

Eight minutes later, Ky Willott scored on a penalty corner, to give NSW a 2-1 advantage - a lead they held on to for the rest of the match, to secure the national title.

Joining the two Shoalhaven products in Brent Livermore's side was Illawarra South Coast product Daine Richards, as well as North West Sydney's Tom Brown and Samuel Gray, Central Coast's Lain Carr, Brinley Gallagher, Dylan Martin and Jake Wigham, New England's Nathan Czinner, Grafton's Reece Gaddes, Sydney East's William Graf, Tamworth's Ehren Hazell, Northern Sydney and Beaches' Robert MacLennan, Metropolitan South West's Zac McPharland and Newcastle's Sam Mudford, Rory Walker and Ky Willott.

The NSW under 21 women's team finished fifth - with Queensland taking out the title.