"I'm disappointed. Everyone knows we've been to the final dance a number of times and not quite got the job done. But, in a weird way, I met peace.
"I know how hard our people worked. It wasn't a case tonight of a lack of effort. We came up against a really good Crusaders team who squeezed us in all the right places and deserved to win the Grand Final; it doesn't come much closer.
"What you saw out there was a genuine finals contest with two very good teams going hammer and tongs, and it was a one-score play up to the final minute. They gave us everything we expected, and we weren't clinical enough in the right areas to win the game.
"I can walk away with a sense of satisfaction. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it doesn't hurt not to have won when we've been so close. But people probably don't realise how tough it is to get to a final, and even tougher when you've been to a number and haven't done the job.
"But the consistency of our performances has been something to relish. I love these men, and I know how hard they work, and I'm confident that in the near future, they'll get across the line.
"When you see the growth in the organisation, the growth in young men and seeing them enrich their lives and their families' lives through getting to higher honours, that I look back on with a lot of promise.
"The disappointment will linger, but I can't change anything. It's done now. The reflection will be about remembering all the good stuff that happened.
"We're a tight group who feel the disappointment. We have ridden the highs, but we'll bounce back. The sun will rise in the morning.
"Our contestable kicking game was a little inaccurate. We were probably a metre and a half, two metres too long. That didn't let us get in the air or win the ground and gave the likes of Will Jordan a bit more time. He's world-class; if you give him space, he will hurt you.
"Will was phenomenal in the air, won a lot of those 50-50s and then we were having to defend for long sets.
"That tactical kicking game was where we had the edge on them last time, and they were superb in that area. In the set-piece, they squeezed us, and we didn't have enough quality possession to apply pressure to them. So, you have to tip your hat to them.
Chiefs lock Tupou Vaa'i
"We knew we would come here and have to work, and we certainly did tonight. It's a tough pill to swallow, but I'll reflect over the summer and try to figure out ways how we could be better.
"Clayton is a man with a lot of mana and the type of coach that's not going to brush things off. He's going to tell you straight up, and that's all you want from a coach. He's always pushing us to be better and he's a Chiefs man through and through. He's going to be missed, we've seen the work he's done over the last four-plus years."