GSFL 2023: Loyal Albany servant Tait McLean becomes first premiership captain after Sharks grand final victory

Loyal servant Tait McLean will go down in the record books as Albany’s first league premiership captain. McLean has been at the Sharks through years of pain but you couldn’t wipe the smile from his face after the final siren. The Sharks absorbed a mountain of pressure in the second half to deny Railways a premiership hat-trick and in turn create their own piece of history. In front of hundreds of adoring family, friends and passionate Sharks supporters, McLean lifted the premiership cup aloft alongside coach Jamie Ramm. The maiden league flag has been 11 years in the making and the moment for the winning skipper was worth all the blood, sweat and tears. “You think about it your whole career when you’ve never experienced it. “You can’t really describe what the moment feels like — it is the pinnacle of what you can achieve. “I’m so proud of the group and raising the cup with Rammy, someone that took a lot to come on board with us and put a lot on the line to really get us to where he could see us going is really special. “It one of the best moments in my footy career so far. “You work so hard and feel so honoured to be that team that really earns that premiership at the end of the year.” McLean said he and the senior people kept instilling belief in the players that they could take the club to a place it had never been before. “You try to get best out of your team and really make them believe,” he said. “All I sort of did was stoke that fire that all of the boys had, why do they want to win and we all just found that why. “We got to that middle of the season and had that dip but we talked bit more about what we wanted out of the year and what we could achieve. “Rammy was really good and Radar (Roy Addis) in making us belief that footy can be whatever we want it to be if we work hard at it. “I think that was the difference, we started putting our heads down a bit and started working hard.” McLean said after the heartbreak of 2022 and losing to the Tigers on the big stage, he was hell-bent on being on the other side. “Bull (Tigers captain Bodhi Stubber) said to me last year ‘you’ve got to lose one to win one’ and he was right,” McLean said. “You let it sit in the pit of your stomach and you let it drive you. “You promise yourself not going to be that person sitting on the other side when everyone is getting their medals and that was one thing we all sort of hung on to. “Losing one was not ideal but it was something we needed.”