The second-rower was typically busy both in attack and defence as the Blue Boars secured back to back premierships with a 30-20 win over arch-rivals Moree, but was very surprised to receive the Central North mug for the best performance in the grand final.

“It was a massive surprise,” Curtin said.

“You don’t go out expecting to win that stuff. 

“It’s definitely the icing on the cake.” 

This season was his fourth with the Blue Boars.

He was one of several playing on Saturday who lost the grand final to the Bulls two years ago.

It made Saturday’s success so much sweeter, he said.

Being away from home and going back to back also added that bit more to it.

It has been a but of a frustrating season for Curtin, with his time on the field limited by injury.

After returning from Central North’s successful Richardson Shield campaign, he sat out until round six when in his return game he tore the AC joint in his shoulder and was confined to the sidelines for eight weeks.

“I got back for the last two round games,” he said.

The last of those was against the Bulls. 

Two weeks later he scored a double in their major semi-final loss to them.

He said one of the big differences on Saturday was everyone getting in the right frame of mind.

“Not losing our heads in the first 20 minutes,” he said.

That was reflected on the scoreboard, with the Blue Boars jumping out to a 10-nil lead after just 10 minutes.

It was quite a different situation for them to find themselves in – being up rather than behind – and the confidence just grew from that.

“Once we had the lead and the wind behind us in the second half we knew we just had to kick to the corners,” Curtin said.

Unlike the previous two games there weren’t many mistakes, but it was their defence that was the cornerstone.

“Grand finals are won on the back of defence,” he said.

“We were getting up off the line and hitting them hard.” 

In other awards, Tamworth skipper Harry Veitch won the Treloar Shield as the competition’s best and fairest.

He polled 14 points for the season and finished two points ahead of Barraba’s Will Robinson and Inverell’s Hugo Radford.

Blue Boars breakaway-centre Matt McDonnell was adjudged the best performer at the Country Championships, while the successful coaches from Central North’s campaign – Tom Cullen and Hunter Harley – were awarded the Bruce Etheridge Shield for the coach/es of the year.

Barraba president Steven Peake won the Presidents Cup and Garry Walsh the Prime TV Cup for contribution to the game.