The Tooheys Cup premiership ladder had been tight all season, and that’s how it ended, with Macquarie, Souths and Wests locked on 23 points.

Macquarie won the minor premiership on account of their superior points differential.

Club football secretary Steve Woodbridge said it was the first time in the Toronto-based club’s history that it had won the minor premiership in the top grade.

“And it is 25 years since the Scorpions won their first and only first grade premiership, against Western Suburbs, in 1991,” Woodbridge said.

By winning the minor premiership, the Scorpions earn a break this weekend.

Souths and Wests will battle out the qualifying semi-final at Townsend Oval on Saturday.

The winner of that fixture will take on the Scorpions at Lyall Peacock Field, Toronto, on Saturday, September 3, in the grand-final qualifier.

“For the Scorpions to lose the minor premiership South Newcastle needed to defeat the Scorpions by more than 27 points which was always going to be a big ask considering the Scorpions had the best defence and second-best attack in the competition, coming into the game,” Woodbridge said.

Scorpions coach Adam Bettridge said he was very pleased to win the minor title, but he was quick to point out that the semi-finals series is a new competition.

“It goes to show just how close the competition is between the top sides when the minor premiership went down to points for and against,” Bettridge said.

“Any of the top five sides can win on the day, but having said that I am very confident in this squad and their attitude.”

Against Souths, the Scorpions trailed 8-4 at halftime.

Early in the second half the Scorpions started to get more possession and put on three tries to lead 20-8 with 15 minutes remaining.

But Souths came back and scored two late tries.

Then, with only two minutes left in the game, Souths scored the winning try after peppering the Scorpions tryline for consecutive sets on the back of a string of penalties.

The Scorpions have teams in this week’s semi-finals with the open grade and reserve grade both playing elimination finals at Cahill Oval, Belmont, on Saturday.