He was in his first season with them lauded as Quirindi's best, and had the honour of pulling on the NSW Country sunburnt orange and black. But for Hamish Dunbar his most treasured memory from 2023 doesn't involve a football.
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In late March, the Lions back-rower and partner Marissa, experienced one of the greatest joys there is in life, welcoming a son, Lewis.
"I love it," Dunbar said of fatherhood.
More and more as Lewis "gets older and bit more interactive".
They've started to get a few giggles out of him.
"I know everyone always says it, but as he gets older every day's always different," he said.
Lewis was one of the reasons for them trading the big smoke for Tamworth, which is 'home' for Marissa and where a lot of her family is.
Both from the country, Dunbar hails from Marrar, near Wagga Wagga, he said it was never the plan to live in Sydney "forever".
But, it wasn't the plan either to necessarily move to Tamworth.
"It just happened kind of naturally," he said.
The seed was initially sown when they lived up here for a while after Sydney went into lockdown in 2021.
It was also during that time that his association with the Lions began.
In the midst of the season with Sydney Uni and finding himself at a bit of a loose end with the competition suspended, at the suggestion of Marissa's brother Richie Hunt (the one who played for Quirindi, not the Walcha coach) he decided to have a run with them.
He also knew then-coach Tom Koerstz and half-back Daniel Calavassy from their time at Sydney Uni.
As COVID would dictate, he only ended up playing a few games. But it was enough to make it a "no brainer" to link back up with them when he made the permanent move earlier this year.
Bringing the experience of over 100 grade games for Sydney Uni, including 35 for first grade, Dunbar had a big impact for the Lions and was duly named their best and fairest.
"As cliche as it is, you don't play for the individual awards or anything like that," he said.
"But it was a good recognition of effort put in throughout the season so it was very appreciated."
Also stepping up for Central North, he went on to be selected for the Cockatoos and was part of the side that contested the Australian Rugby Shield in Brisbane at the end of September.
The 28-year-old's first time representing Country, while he "loved it", the season was never really about that.
"The goal this season wasn't to make rep teams, it wasn't to see how far I could go personally, it was literally just a new person moving to the area and wanting to meet a new bunch of blokes," Dunbar said.
Unfortunately the Lions fell just short of achieving their finals ambitions, but there were still plenty of highlights.
One of those was getting to play a few games with older brother, and former Australian sevens star, Stu.
"It was obviously a bit of a step down from what he was probably used to, but it was special," he said.
"Mum and dad were able to come up and watch a couple of games of us together."
He will pull on the Lions jersey one more time before the year is out, lining up for them in what will be the final Toothy Tens at Orange on Saturday, November 11.
