Central North Rugby: Remembering Pirates' 2011 success and first title hat-trick

Pirates' 50th anniversary celebrations in 2011 became a double celebration with the first grade side claiming it's third straight Central North premiership.

In front of the Pirates' faithful they completed an undefeated season with a 36-13 triumph over Moree.

Leading by just six points at half-time, the minor premiers flexed their muscle in the second half to join the might of the great Narrabri (early 80s), Barraba (late 80's) and Moree (late 90s-early 2000s) sides as champions three years in-a-row, a feat they have now since bettered, twice.

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A then 20-year old Jake Douglas scored a double and would go on to be named the player of the grand final, while Conrad Starr won the first of his three - so far - Central North player of the year awards.

The first of the three they went through undefeated, captain Nick Rees in the immediate aftermath described it as surreal.

"At the moment it's a win," he said.

"It will take us a while to figure out actually what we've done; to go through undefeated and win the grand final.

"But we're very happy."

The second time he had held aloft the Heath Shield, the second rower couldn't have scripted a better way to go out with the grand final to be the last time he pulled on a Pirates jersey.

The game itself is a bit of a blur but he remembers how proud he felt leading the side out onto Ken Chillingworth Oval.

"It's goosebumps when you run out through a tunnel that leads to half-way," he said.

"You can't get better than leading your team out. The only thing that trumps it is holding the trophy at the end of the day."

"It's not buying a house but you've worked all year to hold that trophy up; a lot of blood and sweat have gone into it."

Rees said it was really about playing their game, and staying calm: you know it's going to be faster and more intense.

"We'd got there on the back of what we'd done all year. We didn't want to go out and change anything," he said.

He admitted though the undefeated mantle was an added pressure, especially for those that had been there in 2008 when they were upset in the decider by Inverell.

"Inverell was in the back of our mind because we'd gone through undefeated that year," he said.

The core of the side had also been there in 2009 and 2010 under co-coach Garry Walsh, and had built a strong bond. That mateship was in Rees' view one of the secrets to their success.

It was also as Walsh's offsider, Matt Panton, recounted also "a very talented" side. The former Country rep went as far as to rate the 2011 side the best Pirates "have put on the park" since he's been in Tamworth.

"It was a very versatile team and a stacked team," he said.

The likes of Starr, Douglas, Josh Stewart, Andrew Moodie, Bart Leach, Ben Goodman, Amos Ioasa, Brendan Rixon would be in discussions for the best to have pulled on the Pirates jersey.

Nathan Hamlin had also made the switch from league and played NSW Country that year.

"Josh Stewart scored one of the best grand final tries I've seen, and I've been to or played in a lot," Panton recalled.

From a penalty quick tap, the breakaway ran away 60m, weaving his way past three or four defenders.

Rees was one of a couple of players they welcomed back for the decider. He'd missed the last month. Hamlin was also coming back.

It created a few selections headaches for Panton and Walsh.

One of the biggest discussions between the brains trust in the lead-up was around Douglas. After a lot of "toing and froing" between him and Daniel Wallace to start at six, they went with Douglas. The other position of conjecture was five-eighth, Rixon getting the nod over Luke Perry.

The morning of the game the players all got together for breakfast at Panton's place.

It was a tradition he had experienced during his days playing with Narrabri.

"We used to do something over there before the grand final," he said.

"It was something to get all the boys together and get them away from distractions, start getting their minds on the job early."

The grand final victory capped off what had been a dominant season. From Panton's recollection their average score was something like 48-10.

They would go on to beat Walcha the following year to become the third side to win four consecutive titles.

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