Will McDonnell wrote another chapter in his family's storied association with Narrabri when he co-captained the Blue Boars to their first Central North premiership since 2015 on Saturday.
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The 25-8 win over the Red Devils saw him join older brother Matt and father Peter as first grade premiership winners with the Blue Boars.
Matt was part of the 2014 and 15 winning sides, while his dad was the last player to lead them to a home grand final win before Matt Schwager did it in 2014.
"It's unbelievable. Really happy with how the boys played today and to do it in front of an away crowd, hats off to us," Will said.
The 26-year-old is no stranger to the joy of premiership success having experienced it on several occasions during his six years with Shute Shield heavyweights Sydney Uni.
But there is something special about doing it for your home town, in front of your family and friends, and the club you grew up playing for, especially, as in McDonnell's case, when it holds such a deep family connection.
"A lot of people in my family have played here so I hope I've done them proud today," he said.
The former Waratahs tourist's second season back in blue after returning to the region in 2020, he said to have the honour of leading them this season was "great".
The captaincy is something he also shares with his brother and dad, with Matt leading them in 2019.
"It was good doing it with Nicho (Jacob Nichols) there as well," he said.
"It was a bit shaky there in the middle of the season, we had a bit of a form slump, but towards the back end of the season when it counts we stepped up."
Their first grand final appearance since 2016, McDonnell was a brick wall in defence and constantly probing in attack, and duly adjudged the best performer of the grand final - quite to his surprise.
"It was a bit unexpected. But it was a whole team effort today, one through 15 were just unbelievable," he said.
His highlight reel included setting up their first try, the outside centre taking on the line and drawing in the Gunnedah defence before getting a backhand flick away to fullback Jydon Hill. He then found winger Felix Johnson and he did the rest.
The Blue Boars were the underdogs going in with the Red Devils finishing minor premiers and beating them in the major semi-final, but were superior when it mattered.
"What we did last time we played them in the major was we ran back into their big forwards," McDonnell said.
"What we did today was beat them around the corner and they just ran out of puff by the end."
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