Pirates belatedly commemorated one of their best servants' history-making milestone with a final round minor premiership-sealing win on Saturday.
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After in 2022 becoming only the fifth person to chalk up 200 games for the club, Brendan Rixon now stands alone as the first to play 200 first grade games.
Actually playing his 200th against Narrabri the week before, and not one for fanfare, Rixon kept it pretty quiet.
But the club wasn't going to let such a momentous occasion just slip by and so took the opportunity of their last home game of the regular season to acknowledge the achievement - complete with special '200' balloons which were displayed along the fence beside the Pirates bench.
That he reached the milestone just over a year after he played his 200th club game - incidentally also against Walcha - speaks to what a big part of the fabric of the first grade side he has been since making his debut as a teenager.
When he notched his 200th last year, former team-mate and coach Mat Kelly described Rixon as the "ultimate professional" and one of the toughest players he played with.
True to style, for the man of the moment the most important part about Saturday was the result, not the personal accolades. They needed to beat Walcha to clinch top spot.
There were a couple of shaky moments in the first half but they got there, convincingly in the end, the 50-17 win setting up a home qualifying final in two weeks time.
They will play Gunnedah in that after the Red Devils edged out Narrabri 17-15 to hold off Moree for second spot. It came down to wins after both finished on 74 points.
It was a similar story for fourth, as Quirindi fell heartbreakingly short in their finals quest with the bonus point the Blue Boars picked up for finishing within seven enough for them to sneak into fourth.
Taking them to equal points with the Lions, they had one more win and will now take on arch-rivals Moree in the elimination final next Saturday.
Looking to bounce back after their disappointing loss to the Blue Boars, Pirates started strongly on Saturday, skipper Conrad Starr charging off the back of the scrum to score after only about five minutes.
The Rams, though, were on a finals mission of their own and hit straight back through centre Pat Keen.
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It was then a little bit untidy from the home side for a while.
But, after scoring off a nicely-worked scrum move, they found their rhythm again and pulled away to lead 28-5 at half-time.
When half-back Brad Male then went over for his second try early in the second half to make it 33-5, they looked to have the game in hand.
"That was good," Rixon said of the performance.
"But there's still something not quite clicking all the time.
"In patches we put it together today and we've sort of done that over the last few weeks."
"We've just got to find that formula to be a bit more consistent."
The final in two weeks will be their first since their 2018 grand final triumph.
"I guess the good thing is we've been really good here this year. I don't think we've lost a game at home," Rixon said.
"So hosting the major is a big opportunity.
"And it's a great thing for the club so hopefully we can get some bodies down and get some support.
"The job's not done yet though."
He played his part in the win on Saturday. Pushing into five-eighth with Jayden Kitchener-Waters away, he directed them well and was four-from-four from the tee in the first half.
In the other game Inverell consigned Scone to the wooden spoon with a 33-31 win.
