The 34-20 win was an emphatic statement, even more so given Pirates’ injury woes, and an important result.
“It was extremely important for a couple of reasons,” coach Andrew Verrell said.
“One, Narrabri are the leading side, and secondly we did it without our old warhorses in (Conrad) Starr, (Barton) Leach, and (Ben) Goodman.
“They make up a lot of our spine.”
Their jubilation was tempered slightly by prop Matt Kelly appearing to dislocate his ankle.