Outgoing Narwan Eels player-coach Mike Ware praised the young talent in the side for landing the club's second consecutive men's Group 19 premiership.
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Narwan made it back-to-back titles after defeating the Inverell Hawks in an end-to-end thriller.
Gone were much of last year's team who hoisted the shield and in their place was a host of young talent with plenty of promise.
Ware said it felt even better getting the trophy this year after a re-build.
"Probably better because of all the young fellas in the side," he said.
"We started training last November and there was probably five of us from last year's team; a lot of people left and went to other clubs.
"Fletch [Fletcher Strong] and myself, we just put trust in the young boys.
"It is their time now and what a way to start, getting a premiership under their belts now."
It wasn't until late in the game that Narwan edged in front enough to claim the victory.
The lead chopped and changed throughout.
"We just played for 80 minutes, that is our motto, our Narwan-style, we just play for 80," Ware said.
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"We lost our captain and best player all year, Jaiden [French], in the first-half and probably lost a few more but the boys just dug deep.
"They put the jersey on and we just told the boys to trust each other.
"You go to another level when you wear this jersey so I am very proud of them today."
One of those youngsters was fullback Keandre Johnson-Vale who was backing up from the under-18 decider.
He posted the first try two minutes in with French adding the extras.
Josh Boyd hit back for the Hawks and skipper Alex Hull made no mistake with the conversion.
The Hawks took the lead when Harold Duncan bolted up the sideline and, a few plays later, bagged the four-pointer.
Then French crossed at the other end five minutes later.
James Ahoy added the extras to lock things up at 12-all going into half-time.
The Hawks posted the first points of the second stanza with Dom Dunn crossing out wide.
Hull again nailed the conversion.
But then Narwan's Siotame Vaihu injected himself into the game.
He scored the first of his hat-trick next.
But, as had been the theme of the whole game, the Hawks scored another try.
This time it was Kaleb Hope dashing from dummy-half to run 40 metres for the four-pointer.
Hull didn't add the extras this time.
From there it was all Vaihu.
The hulking centre barged over for another two tries and his side were eight points in front.
Then Tyson Ahoy sealed it with a last-minute try and the final score was 34-22.
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