Pat Rosser can understand why people question the importance of the National Indigenous Cricket Championships, but he's adamant only people who attend the event know how special it is.
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Former Parkes star Rosser, alongside Dubbo trio ben Patterson, Marty Jeffrey, and Brock Larance, was part of the NSW side which dominated the men's division of the NICC at Alice Springs.
The performances from the side led Rosser to say his side didn't lose an hour of cricket all tournament.
The men's side were far and away the best side in their division, but not even they could compare to the performances of the women's outfit.
The NSW women's side also won the tournament and they made national headlines on the way when bowling South Australia out for just 10.
That was one of a number of totals below 100 scored at the carnival, but Rosser said results only tell part of the tale.
"I can probably understand while people question the value of it in one sense," he said.
"But there's some states which aren't as well supported or backed as the big ones and it's an opportunity for those Indigenous people across the country to go out and represent their family, their cultiure, and their state.
"It's something special. Some of the teams we played, I was playing against those blokes 10 or 15 years ago and they're still coming back so that shows you it's a really special week."
There's more to the carnival at Alice Springs than the two tournaments.
An indoor competition is run at the same time, as well as men's and women's community divisions which allows even more people to take part.
But the open-age state titles are the main event and NSW is now the most successful state in NICC after Rosser and the Dubbo trio drove the Blues to a seventh title.
NSW defeated Queensland by eight wickets in the decider.