The season was bubbling along nicely for Norths but vice captain Hugh Sinclair felt he needed to make a point.
It was round 11 in the Shute Shield. Norths had notched a couple of blow-out wins against Penrith and Gordon, they'd bottled it against Sydney Uni but eked out a tough one against Randwick.
!["We need people who love rugby": Simon Cron at Cammeray Oval.](/web/20170310035824im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/m/c/j/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqm8fm.png/1470404827042.jpg)
That afternoon had been another close one. They were in hostile territory at Manly Oval but had held out for a four-point win.
Sinclair stood up to speak in the sheds.
"He said to the boys, 'Now do you understand? Now do you believe?'" coach Simon Cron recalled.
"'Because I'm sick and tired of telling you we can do it. Now do you understand that we've got the firepower to do it?'
"I think that was good. Self-belief is a big part of success and that came from the players."
The team that hadn't made a grand final in 18 years and hadn't touched the shield since 1975 went on a 12-match winning streak in one of the most stunning revivals in Sydney Premiership rugby.
The man who sparked the turnaround? A hard nut from a prominent New Zealand rugby family who spent the past decade building a life on Sydney's northern beaches.
![Inspiration: Simon Cron has overseen a change in fortunes for Northern Suburbs.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170310035824im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/m/c/j/r/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1470391511395.png)
Inspiration: Simon Cron has overseen a big change in fortunes. Photo: Dominic Lorrimer
"The boys had lost the love of playing rugby," Cron said.
"I told them when I started if you don't love playing rugby, when the going gets tough you won't be there," Cron said.
"We need people who love rugby, we need to take an approach of second to no one. I don't care if you're playing the Wallabies, you don't take a backward step, that's what we'll live by.
"And the third thing was to be the best. We're nowhere near that yet but that's what we're working towards."
Saturday is a busy day for the Cron clan. In Sydney at 3pm, Simon Cron will watch his team take on the club rugby powerhouse of Sydney University in the Shute Shield final at North Sydney Oval. Across the ditch his cousin, Dan Cron, an assistant with the Hurricanes, will help his team do battle against the Lions in the Super Rugby final at Wellington's Cake Tin. And watching them both, firing off a few texts here and there, will be Simon's uncle, Mike Cron, the All Blacks' revered set-piece coach.
![Famous family: Simon's uncle, Mike Cron, instructs the All Blacks forwards.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170310035824im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/m/c/l/y/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1470391578423.png)
Famous family: Simon's uncle, Mike Cron, instructs the All Blacks forwards. Photo: Getty Images
The cousins were on identical roller-coasters as their teams traversed knockout rounds and shared the wins and losses from opposite sides of the Tasman.
"[Dan] messaged me straight after [the semi-final] asking 'are you in, are you in? It's good, there's a bit of Cron in rugby."
Of course, the Sydney-based Cron is doing it for little more than the love of the game, like every one of his players, assistants and the army of club volunteers. Together they are rebuilding Norths in an age of absent funding and little sympathy.
When Cron started in 2015, the club could not field a fourth-grade team. Now they have 45 players in fourth grade alone. Touched by the revival, club greats started calling to wish the team luck. Cron took calls from Peter Johnston and former Test players Peter Carson and Reg Smith.
Game by game, win by win, across all four grades, Norths are putting the lie to the claim that club rugby is dying in Sydney.
Saturday's final will pit the proud club against a rival with more silverware than the All Blacks. Some might call it a David and Goliath battle, but Cron isn't having that.
"I suppose from an external point of view it's a well-established, big club but Norths have been around for 117 years so we've got a lot of history and big supporters who love rugby," he said.
"It's nice to see a lot of them coming back and getting involved in the game."