The local side, which featured former Armidilians and NRL stars Dennis Moran and Dean Widders, won the competition shield for the first time since 2001.

It was the fourth time that Narwan has won the big one in the event’s four-decade history, earning them the right to host next year’s competition in Armidale.

Narwan won a close final 22-18 over Sydney’s La Perouse, with both sides trading tries throughout the match.

Gary Quinlan, Scott Briggs, Widders and Tyrone Mundine all crossed while Fred Waters kicked three from four conversions.

The missed attempt was one of only two kicks Waters failed to nail across the five matches.

Narwan qualified for the final after a 16-0 win over Newcastle Emus on Saturday, followed by a convincing win over Mindah River and a 24-18 victory against Kempsey on Sunday, and Monday’s semi-final against Waterloo Storm.

Among the silverware brought home by the Eels was the Colin Ahoy shield for the knockout’s most valuable player, which was awarded to Moran.

The award meant automatic selection as the 18th man in the Indigenous side for the Indigenous v Maori clash, to be played on October 26 before the World Cup opening ceremony.

Moran will join the squad if one of the original 17 drops out for any reason.

He was also named best forward, while teammate Mundine was named best back.

Matt Pittman won the Pritchard Moran trophy for player’s player.

Narwan player Ricky Quinlan said the victory came with mixed feelings after the death of prop Alf Atkinson on Monday.

“It’s a good feeling, but we had a win and a loss at the same time,” he said.

“We had a reason to win it for Alf, but we always went up there with the ambition to win.

“We went out with mixed emotions, just hungry to win.”

Quinlan said it was likely that most players would back up for the home tournament next year.

“Dean (Widders) said he’ll fly back from England for it, but if we’d have lost he wasn’t coming back,” he joked.

Narwan committee member Colin Ahoy also thanked the various local businesses that supported the club.

“Without them we wouldn’t have been able to go to the knockout,” he said.

Narwan officials said they also hoped the shield win would provide a stepping stone to them returning to the Group 19 competition.