But Harbour player-coach Charles Elton is happy not to share the title this time.
He put in a gutsy effort to help the Hawks post a 41-35 win over Kaikorai in the Dunedin division 1 club final at Forsyth Barr on Saturday.
Elton captained the Hawks team who shared the honours with University in 2018.
Asked how it felt to have the top step to themselves this time, the seasoned loose forward summed it up nicely.
‘‘It’s the first one for the club — it’s massive,’’ he said.
‘‘We went out to Port Chalmers yesterday; you’d see Harbour Hawks flags and blue and white balloons and everything.
‘‘It is awesome for the community. To actually win one yourself is awesome.’’
Elton is part of three-pronged coaching staff this season that includes Ewan Brumwell, who was also part of the Hawks playing squad in 2018.
The celebrations were a little flat back then.
‘‘I guess it was cool for the club, but a little bit empty, I suppose,’’ Elton said.
‘‘But now to have our first one ourselves is pretty special, so that’s cool.’’
It is a full-circle moment for the pair, who helped engineer Harbour’s resurgence.
They were struggling a little earlier in the campaign. But they got some key players back, including Elton himself, who missed most of the season with an injury, and breezed through the playoffs.
They led Kaikorai 31-9 at halftime in the final but had to weather a spirited fightback by the defending champions.
Kaikorai co-captain Lucas Casey led the charge. The No 8 scored two scintillating tries down the left flank and got with half a metre of a third.
‘‘Yeah, he’s slippery. Hopefully you’ll see him in a black jersey soon enough.’’
Harbour looked out on their feet with 20 minutes to play.
‘‘We knew Kaik were good in the last 20, so we knew we had to play the whole 80 and managed to hang on.’’
