This time last year Rob Stirzaker was running around for Gordon's lower grades in the Shute Shield.
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On Saturday he played an instrumental role as Tamworth continued their charge towards the New England finals - a top two spot theirs to lose after handing the table-topping Harbour Knights their first loss of the season.
On a bitterly cold day in Tamworth that threw up everything but snow, the Magpies put themselves firmly in the minor premiership frame with a 24-12 triumph. It saw them leapfrog the Knights into second, a point behind Walcha, who hammered Glen Innes 58-5.
"It's nice to bounce back after last weekend, just getting pipped there," Stirzaker said.
"Lots of positives, a few things to work on, but nice just to get the job done and get the bonus point."
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The younger brother of former Melbourne Rebels half-back Nic, Stirzaker, also a half-back, has been a handy pick-up for the Magpies after moving to town last November for work.
He has consistently been one of their best and was again on Saturday with coach Peter Burke noting that he "had a really good game" and "cleared a lot of sh...y ball"
"I live just up the road (from Tamworth Rugby Park) and a few of the boys told me about the Magpies so I did the pre-season and played the knockout up in Armidale," Stirzaker explained of how he came to be at the club.
"It's just lovely to have a comp and get back into it."
Sydney born-and-bred, he is enjoying his taste of bush footy.
"I love it, I think it's great," he said.
"It's a little bit more unstructured (compared to the Shute Shield) but in saying that there's a lot of skillful players and the quality is top notch."
Watts brothers Mitch and Nathan also stood out in a win that was built on grit, tenacity and robust defence, interspersed with some moments of brilliance; Tevita Peceli Lagimiri's second try a flashback to two weeks ago when the fullback tore Glen Innes apart.
Spreading the ball wide from a lineout just their side of half-way, five-eighth Livinia Tuicakau lobbed a perfectly-weighted cut out over to Richard Clegg. He then offloaded to Jeremy York, who drew the Knights winger in and unleashed the man they call Tex.
He finished with a double, his first giving the Magpies a bit more breathing room after Tuicakau, who had come on late in the first half (he hadn't trained all week and Burke and the coaching staff believed he was unavailable until he rang him an hour before the game), had scored in the final seconds of the half to put them up 12-5 at the break.
Burke thought there were "a lot of good points" to come out of the game and under the circumstances was "pretty happy".
They had seven players out from the previous weekend and had to tough it out, especially in the first half with the Knights throwing a lot at them. But they just kept turning up in defence and repelling them. Twice in the game they were down to 14 but didn't concede a try.
"Our scrum was under pressure and we didn't win much lineout ball. If we had 35 per cent of the ball that would surprise me. But I think we had them outwide and whenever we got the ball outwide we made good yards," Burke said.
In the other games the Magpies' next round opponents Robb College edged out Barbarians 15-7 while St Alberts defeated Armidale 27-7 to keep their finals hopes alive.
