Shoalhaven are Illawarra District Rugby Union premiers for the second year running after a 36-15 grand final victory over Avondale at Collegians Sports Centre on Saturday.
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The win, Shoals 24th win on the trot, was built on a dominant second half performance which saw the Will Miller-coached side outscore their opponents 22-5.
To be fair the Wombats had the better of the opening stanza but it was the team in green and yellow which went to the main break 14-10 ahead.
Shoalhaven fly-half Harri Hibbs, who won the Geoff Shaw Medal for player-of-the-match said it was a special feeling to win back-to-back titles with a group of players he considers to be like family.
"I've been a part of this club since 2016 and we went through some tough times. I remember getting flogged by these boys 100-nil," he said.
"It's great to see that most of these boys here are juniors and have come through and developed this club.
"And what Will Miller's done to this club has been unreal. It's a great group of boys but it's not just a team, it's a family."
Hibbs had a great game personally, scoring a try midway through the second half to ice victory and setting up his speedy outside backs time and time again.
But he was quick after being named as the best player on the field to praise his hard-working forwards and the talented Brandon brothers, Steven, Mark and Keiran, for creating space for him to thrive.
"It is really a team effort. What I did is just off the back of the boys," Hibbs said.
He added it was a good feeling winning any grand final but going back-to-back was something special.
"They are just as good but to go back-to-back for our club.....I think that is the first time it's ever happened in first grade for us. This one means a lot."
While Shoalhaven found a way to win, like they have done in 35 of their past 36 competitive games, early in Saturday's decider it looked like Avondale might cause an upset.
The Wombats were actually first to score through Brett Wellington, with Cooper Hansen adding the two, but it didn't take long for Shoals to respond with Mark Brandon converting a Lachlan Hennessy try.
Avondale then controlled the middle part of the first half and took a 10-7 lead courtesy of a penalty goal to Hansen.
The Joe Aiona-coached Avondale side looked good value for their small advantage but Shoals showed why it has won 23-games on the bounce, scoring a try on the last play before halftime when Will Miller intercepted a pass from a line-out to set up a charging Duncan Maddinson to cross over for a try.
Brandon added the two points to see Shoals head to the break 14-10 ahead.
Miller, who played the whole game with a hamstring strain, admitted Shoals rode their luck in the first half before putting in a more composed second 40 minutes.
He added though that it was pretty special to go through the season undefeated and win back-to-back titles.
"Everyone wants to beat you when you win the year before," Miller said.
"But we've also beaten a red-hot Avondale side, which makes it even better. They came out to play today and on our first half show, we're probably lucky to be as close as it was. But to finish off the way we did, I think it just shows what the club's about.
"We were better in the second half. We stuck to our game plan and had a lot of field position.
"In the first half we let them, I guess do that to us and dictate the game. We were able to do that in the second half and we had a few calls go our way and luckily we were able to go on with the job. It's a really good way to finish the season."
Avondale weren't helped by their discipline in the second half, with two-players yellow-carded at one stage.
Shoals took advantage of their extra two players during that 10-minutes, crossing for two tries.
It wasn't all bad news for the Wombats, with their second-grade side crowned champions after a thrilling 35-30 extra-time victory over Shoalhaven.
Avondale's impressive No 8 Jubilee Soloa was named deserved player-of-the match.
With Shoalhaven and Avondale combatants in both the first and second-grade Illawarra rugby union grand finals on Saturday it was no surprise to see a sea of green and gold and blue and gold at Collegians.
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