Central North will have a new champion in 2022 after Narrabri exacted some finals revenge on Pirates to end their dream of winning an historic fifth-straight premiership.
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In what coach Jake Packer labeled "a grand final winning performance" the Blue Boars outlasted the premiers 22-19 in an enthralling preliminary final at Dangar Park on Saturday to win through to a grand final showdown with Gunnedah.
It was Pirates who quashed their title hopes then, for what was the start of their four-peat.
They repeated the dose again three years ago, this time in the preliminary final to deny the Blue Boars a grand final berth.
Unbeaten in their previous 10 finals games, there were plenty of nervous Narrabri supporters when Pirates were attacking, about 30 out, in the final seconds.
But, as they spread the ball wide, the Blue Boars' defence swarmed and drove them into touch.
"That's a grand final winning performance from us," a "very overwhelmed" Packer said post-match.
"We knew Pirates would not go away, that's why they've won four-in-a-row. They did it to us in 2019 and we wanted to make sure that didn't happen, but they made it very hard."
A late inclusion in the run-on side with five-eighth Morgan Jones not recovering from the ankle injury he picked up against Gunnedah, he was much happier to be out there on the field in the closing stages than on the sideline.
"I reckon I would have been doing a lot of pacing on the sidelines," he said with a laugh.
"Very nervous, but it was good to be out there and witness and have the win with the boys on the field."
It was a game where momentum continuously swung between the two sides.
Pirates had the better of the early possession and territory, and the first opportunity for points but twice opted to take the scrum rather than the penalty kick, to no avail.
The Blue Boars, at least initially, went for the points when they were on offer and through Toby Knight took the lead after 13 minutes.
![Narrabri half-back Tom Nolan is swamped by team-mates after his involvement in the match-sealing tackle for the Blue Boars. Narrabri half-back Tom Nolan is swamped by team-mates after his involvement in the match-sealing tackle for the Blue Boars.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/cce00367-cd41-4f9d-8d9a-341f947599c5.JPG/r0_0_4791_3086_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The score stayed that through what was a pretty messy next 20 or so minutes with both sides struggling to find any rhythm.
But then just as it looked as Knight's penalty was going to be the only points for the first half, some late drama saw the Blue Boars kick away to a 17-nil lead at the break.
First they were awarded a penalty try and Pirates centre Damian Reti was yellow-carded for an infringement as Blue Boars winger Felix Johnson attempted to score.
Then virtually from the kick-off they were in again, Jacob Nichols finishing off some enterprising play.
Packer said the feeling was really good at half-time.
![Jayden Kitchener-Waters was one of Pirates' three tryscorers. Jayden Kitchener-Waters was one of Pirates' three tryscorers.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/8057b075-ed27-49f5-bae5-e81e7084e245.JPG/r0_0_2372_1639_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We defended them early, they threw a lot at us early, we absorbed it, and we put points on," he said.
"We were still a little bit frantic and did some silly stuff so we just said we've got to take that out of of our game. We knew it was going to be a hard second half no matter what the score was."
And it was.
As quickly as the game had turned in their favour, it turned Pirates' way, skipper Conrad Starr getting them on the board with a typical charge off the back of the scrum, the No.8 taking three opposition defenders over the line with him.
Eight minutes later the difference was back to three with five-eighth Jayden Kitchener-Waters selling the dummy and slicing through.
The Blue Boars had a couple of chances to give themselves a bit more breathing room, but couldn't finish them. As tensions started to boil over, with a couple of scuffles breaking out, eventually they did, fullback Jydon Hill scoring off a set scrum play.
But no sooner, and they were huddled up the other end, after Pirates winger Alex Franklin bustled his way over to make it a three-point game again and set up a tense final two minutes.
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