The inaugural National Indigenous Rugby League Championships in 2017 was an emotional one for the DRS Memorial side.
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The Newcastle-based side was playing in honour of Dave Ray Smith, who had passed away aged 34 just months before the carnival, but it had to settle for the runners-up prize after falling one win short of national glory.
The side returned to the carnival this year and got the title win it craved, taking out the Nines event at Dubbo's Apex Oval on Sunday.
After a massive two days of action across juniors, women's and men's divisions, DRS Memorial downed hometown hope the Orana Googars 16-0 in the decider.
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"We went to first nationals at Wollongong and we got beat in the final and that was a really emotional time," DJ Faulkner, part of the side's coaching staff, said.
"To be able to come here again with most of the same boys and win it is really special.
"We didn't know how we'd go because a few boys were injured and we didn't have any training runs but there's a lot of good players in the team.
"Not many had played Nines before but everyone dug deep because we were playing for our cousin and brother who we lost not too long ago.
"Everyone knew what we were playing for so it made it a bit easier."
After showing its class during Saturday's group matches, DRS Memorial knocked off Goodooga on Sunday morning and continued its charge.
The decider clash with the Googars was a bruising encounter with defence dominating for long periods, something not always the case in Nines.
The Googars didn't help themselves with a number of errors and after Matt Smith opened the scoring for DRS a second try was scored before the break.
The Googars again failed to create sustained pressure in the second half but the defence held firm for long periods.
With one minute to go the icing was put on the cake after some nifty work from Dennis Moran set up a try for Callan Briggs.
"Big credit to the Newcastle boys, they were too good for us today," Googars' Claude Gordon said.
"But we killed ourselves and kept turning the ball over. They were good enough to capitalise."
It's special to me. It's mine and my old man's team.
- Claude Gordon on the Googars
Two titles went to Newcastle as the Yowies defeated Walgett Aboriginal Connection (WAC) 20-4 in the under 12s while the Dubbo-based Jordan's Rabbitohs Memorial was a popular champion after downing Barwon United 24-0 in the under 14s decider.
The under 16s final saw Butucarbin Warriors down the 2829 Boys Coonamble 20-14 before the women's title was won by South Sydney.
The Rabbitohs scored a 20-4 victory over WAC.
The main men's decider may not have gone the way the Googars wanted but Gordon was still proud to be in the side's colours again.
"It's special to me. It's mine and my old man's team so we get the boys together," he said.
"We keep it tight with all the boys from around here and the brothers and we always enjoy it.
"I think all the boys enjoyed it and it showed how much fun they were having."