Most of the current side weren’t even born, and the rest wouldn’t have even started school.

It’s been a long wait for the Blues but after beating Gunnedah 42-28 in last Sunday’s preliminary final they are set to play their first decider since 1991 when they went down to West Tamworth 21-6. The previous year they had beaten Wests 18-14 to claim what stands their last premiership.

The years since are littered with near misses.

Most recently last year when they were knocked out by Wests in the preliminary final.

“We’d beaten Wests twice that year,” Cameron recalled.

“We went out there and were probably a bit overawed by the situation and the opportunity to be in a grand final.”

They let the Lions get away to a 20-point lead and were playing catch-up from there.

“It was pretty heart-breaking considering we probably had a good opportunity to make the grand final,” he said.

Sadly it’s not a feeling he was unaccustomed to, having also fallen one short in 2012, 2014 (in golden point), and 2015.

Understandably there was some relief when the final whistle blew on Sunday, even though Cameron felt they were always in control.

Even when they did fall behind he knew they “had the ammo to be able to finish the job off”.

Experience had taught him though that you can never take a lead for granted.

He learnt that in 2012 when they led Wests 24-12 with less than 20 minutes to play, only to concede three unanswered tries, the last with just three minutes on the clock, and be pipped by two points.

Having played in grand finals before with other sporting pursuits, Cameron knows what it is all about and while excited reiterated that the “job’s not completely done yet”.

Captain-coach the last two years, he attributed their success this season in part to being able to harness all the local talent. The talent has always been there, they’ve just struggled to get it all on the field at the same time.

The return of captain Sean Russ and the injection of Brenton Cochrane have also made a huge difference, and the electric Cochrane will be a key for them against North Tamworth on Sunday.

The Blues have rolled the Bears twice but both times have been in Narrabri.

It’s a different prospect facing the Bears at home, Cameron stressing that if they are to have any chance they have to play the game out.

“As has been the case for every year throughout their dominance you just got to play 80 minutes of football against them,” he said.

“All it takes against these good sides is you give them a lacklustre 10 minutes and they punish you.”

It will be a big day with the Blues reserve grade and U18s also qualifying for their respective grand finals.

The U18s also booked their spot on Sunday by beating the Bulldogs.