This weekend the Club celebrates Josh Boag’s 100th open-age game for the Pennant Hills Demons.
Josh Boag, nicknamed ‘Steggles’ by his new Penno clubmates, arrived at the Club in season 2015. He had previously played footy for Coleambally, a small town in the NSW Riverina, in the Farrar Football League. In his last season with Coleambally in 2014, he played 29 games across three grades, Under 17s, Reserves and he also debuted in the senior side.
At age 17, Josh played a full season with the Penno Under 19s in 2015 and his prodigious talent was immediately recognised. Midway through 2016 he was elevated to the senior side when he debuted in the Round 9 match against Sydney University; a 31 pt win in a low-scoring contest.
In 2017, he was an important member of the Premier Division side that went on to win the 2017 Premier Division Premiership, the club’s 5th and most recent senior flag. The match was an absolute nail-biter against Sydney Uni who were minor premiers and red-hot favourites. Penno created history when it won the flag from 5th place.
By winning the 2017 Premier Division Grand Final, Matthew Carey, Co-Captain at the time, became the first at Pennant Hills to win four first grade flags for the Demons. Remarkably, he kicked the winning goal on his non-preferred right foot and fulfilled every footballer’s boyhood dream of kicking the winning goal in a Grand Final!
The history books show that Sydney University lost the game due to their poor kicking … 25 shots to Penno’s 16, 7 goals, 18 behinds, and yet they still lost by 6 points. But, truth be known, Penno were deserved winners in spite of the lop-sided score-line. Many of Uni’s points were rushed behinds and the constant pressure applied by their Demon opponents meant that everything Uni did was under duress. In the final analysis, Penno handled the Big Game pressure best and made the most of its opportunities, while Uni quailed under the pressure and squandered their chances. Penno had the perfect mix of experience and the enthusiasm of youth and came in to the finals series as, arguably, the form side. Although most pundits no doubt were backing the Minor Premiers to win, insiders at the Demons had high hopes and were quietly confident that the underdogs would prevail.
Steggles kicked a crucial goal in the third quarter, the ‘premiership quarter’, of the Grand Final:
“Cooper Lee took another timely mark in the last line of defence. Then Penno went end-to-end to score its 6th goal. Lee hit King in the centre. King hit Damian Dell’Aquila with a low grass-cutter and Della dropped the ball onto Josh Boag who was free on the right hand wing just outside the 50 and, without breaking stride, he caught the ball, ran into the 50 and kicked a beauty on the run from about 45 m. ‘A wonderful goal to the Demons … Pennant Hills has two in a row … beautiful play through the middle at Blacktown International Sports Park.’ Penno by 7 pts. (12 ¼ min)”
Each year Josh has got better and better and last season, 2023, was runner-up senior’s Best & Fairest. He is a fierce competitor and an aggressive in-and-under player, reminiscent of former Demon captain Tommy ‘Turbo’ Angel. Stegs is a little reserved off-field but on-field he loves the bash and crash of the contest. He is fearless, bordering on reckless, in his attack on the ball and the opposition. He is a fantastic role model to his team-mates and will be an important player in the Demon’s 2024 campaign.
Congratulations Steggles on achieving this significant milestone!
Go Penno!
