A rousing rendition of the club song in front of success-starved fans on the Viking Park hill shows just how much this means.
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But two concussion concerns mean the Uni-Norths Owls' first finals win in almost 20 years may have come at a major cost as the club sweats on the health of Willoughby Axelsen and Jordan Thompson.
The Owls have kept their John I Dent Cup hopes alive with a stunning 25-19 win over the Gungahlin Eagles in the minor semi-final on Sunday.
It puts the Owls on a collision course with the Tuggeranong Vikings in next week's preliminary final, with the Canberra Royals awaiting the winner in the decider.
The Eagles are now left to rue what might have been. They entered the final round of the season with one hand on the minor premiership, before a hiccup against previously winless Easts bumped them into third and a sudden death playoff which ultimately ended their season.
Uni-Norths coach Sam Rolfe concedes the Owls "can't bank on" having the flyhalf Axelsen and fullback Thompson back next week as they chase a long-awaited grand final berth.
Axelsen lasted just four minutes before a collision left him motionless for a few worrying seconds, while Thompson landed horribly wrong after contesting a high ball.
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"We're not sure [if they will play] at the moment, hopefully they'll be back but we can't bank on it at the moment," Rolfe said.
"We talked about our squad, we've had 43 blokes play this season in first grade. That's a huge amount for only 14 games in a year.
"To play 43 guys, it's obvious we've got a great amount of depth to even get us to the finals. The guys that came on had the experience during the year, and that made the difference for us."
There was no shortage of leaders ready to fill the void for the Owls.
There was the calming influence of ACT Brumbies back Irae Simone, coupled with Callum Frawley Richardson's stellar effort in his shift to fullback and Hamish Dawson's injection at flyhalf.
There was scrumhalf Lachlan Creighton, who came good in the nick of time having managed an injury all week, there was David Bennett making cover tackles all day.
There was young gun No. 8 Ben Love, whose relentless work ethic left him absolutely "cooked". He and Phil Ferreira "were just animals all day, whacking blokes and taking carries".
The Owls ultimately proved too strong for a Gungahlin outfit which was left depleted in its own right.
As the Eagles gathered at half-time, fullback Mack Hansen (hip) was laying on the sideline and injured flanker Tayn Atkins was already preparing to join Gungahlin supporters on the hill.
The end result was a bitter pill to swallow for a side that had for so long seemed destined to win a minor premiership.
"It goes to show it doesn't matter how good you are from start to finish. It all starts again when you get to finals," Eagles coach Marco Caputo said.
"We sat on top of the table for however many rounds it was, but it all counts for nought now.
"You don't need to be the best team from round one to round 17 or whatever it was, you need to be the best team for the last two weekends of the season, that's when it counts.
"We'd probably trade a few of those wins during the year for a win today. It's a harsh lesson but it's the reality of getting into playoff football.
"You can't afford to get it wrong and we got it wrong."
AT A GLANCE
John I Dent Cup minor semi-final: UNI-NORTHS OWLS 25 (Will Sankey, Ben Love tries; Irae Simone 4, Jordan Thompson pens) bt GUNGAHLIN EAGLES 19 (Rutikha Ilolahia 2, Josh Gillard tries; Isaac Walker 2 cons)