For a long time Moree and the Central North finals were a bit like fish and chips - you couldn't have one without the other.
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So after four years in the finals wilderness, naturally the Bulls were determined to make the most of their opportunity on Saturday.
And they did. In front of a strong crowd on a very warm day at Moree, they outgunned arch-rivals Narrabri 34-12 to charge into the preliminary final.
The first time the two sides had clashed in the finals for a number of years, and the end of the season for one of them, the Bulls were simply too good in pretty much every facet of the game - save probably the scrum.
That's not to say that it wasn't tough; it was, with Bulls captain Duncan Woods remarking post-match that he was "absolutely gassed" after what was "a typical Moree/Narrabri kind of battle"
"Take nothing away from them, that first half it was gruelling, like I'm spent," he said.
Part of that too may have been the tempo the Bulls played with.
Throwing the finals playbook out the window, they showed a real willingness to chance their arm and attack almost from anywhere.
One of the secrets to their success this season, early on it didn't quite come off through a few dropped balls as they were starting to threaten and some steely defence from the Blue Boars, but as the game wore on they started to get more reward from that.
Jack Ticehurst's try early in the second half was one of the best of them, the movement that he finished starting back on about the Blue Boars' 40m line.
Pushing them out to 24-nil five minutes into the second half, Woods felt that was probably when they really got the momentum.
"That kind of exchange of offloads to get up the field gave us a lot of confidence because we've been starting second halves pretty poorly," he said.
"We've been a bit sleepy I guess.
"To see that straight after half-time was a huge confidence boost."
But, one of the Blue Boars trademarks in the last couple years has been their ability to come back, and when Jacob Nichols snuck over to get them on the board with 20 to play you wondered whether another one was on the cards.
Lachlan Elworthy though quickly snuffed that out after Mitch Copeman had busted through, and despite another try for the Blue Boars the Bulls seemed to have the game in hand.
Their first final since 2018, Woods said weathering the Blue Boars storm in the first half was what set up the win for them. The premiers threw a fair bit at them but they had the answers.
"We knew if we hung in there, we backed our fitness and our shape to get through them late in the game when people started to tire," he said.
The No.8 and his cohorts in the forwards were immense both in creating the opportunities for the likes of Alex Barker to work his magic, but also in not allowing the Blue Boars to get front foot ball.
The end of their premiership defence, the Blue Boars were brave in defeat. They were hard hit by injuries late in the season and had to call on the likes of Todd Farrer and Matt McDonnell to help them out.
