Incoming Manly hooker Matt Parcell says to finish his Ipswich career with an Intrust Super Cup Grand Final win and a State Championship triumph is the perfect finish for his own Queensland Cup career as well as the club's retiring captain Keiron Lander.
Ipswich became the second Queensland team in as many years to earn bragging rights over their NSW counterparts following the Northern Pride's inaugural win last year with Parcell starring in a man-of-the-match effort, scoring one try and saving another.
"It's been a crazy 12 months, both individually and as a team, but I couldn't think of a better way to go out," Parcell told NRL.com after the win.
"To send Kieran out on that note, he's been a great leader for this club, he's done so much and I couldn't be prouder of him.
"I'm excited about that and I can't wait to get down there [to Manly] and start training but I'll enjoy this with the boys. It's a pretty good achievement and I'm excited for next year."
Parcell will take advantage of the off-season with a trip to Europe to take his mind off football before refocusing upon his new start at Narrabeen.
"I'm headed to Europe on Tuesday so I'll get away for a few weeks then get back, we start on the second of November so I'll start training down there. Just travel around for a couple of weeks just to get away and have a bit of a break, it'll be good," he said.
"It was unreal to get those six games [in first grade] with the Broncos this year. It was tough to come back [down to Intrust Super Cup] at first but I just relaxed and knew it'd be the last time I get to play with this bunch of boys so I enjoyed every second of it.
"I got the taste this year and I want more. There's a lot of hard work over the pre-season but I can't wait for next year."
Jets coaches Ben and Shane Walker have taken rugby league by storm with their innovative and attacking approach to coaching this year, and Parcell thanked the pair but asserted their side was about much more than attack.
"I can't thank them enough, they've got me all the way through," he said.
"We showed in the PNG game, we showed last week and we showed again today it's not all about attack, we can defend as well and we can play each."
