The Arthur Beetson Foundation's Queensland Murri Carnival was recently held with the seniors slugging it out from Friday to Sunday to determine who would take home the gold.
In the men's division, the Michael Purcell Memorial Team, known previously as the Purga Wagtails were victorious over the Darkies Connection, clinching a 26-16 win at Kayo Stadium.
The stacked squad, consisting of players including Tyronne Roberts-Davis, Ben Barba, Braydon Trindall and Matt Bowen were playing in honor of Michael "The Kangaroo Catcher" Purcell, who tragically passed away in a car accident only a year ago.
The emotional ride for the team has been described as a time of healing for those who knew The Kangaroo Catcher and spent time with him on the Ipswich Jets.
"It was like a cherry on top, a really great ending in commemoration of Michael Purcell, such an inspirational person, such a lovely human being and a larrikin centre of the party type guy all the time," fullback Wes Conlon said following the match.
"The last catch up for some of us was Purcey's funeral... so it was great to catch up with all them and just sit down and talk about life and how's everything's going."
Meanwhile in the women's division, the Mungindi Panthers took home the women's decider 16-14 over Brisbane Natives, who were aiming to win their fourth championship in a row.
The Panthers team had a core of players from the border town south of St George, who were joined by players from Bundjalung country and as far away as Walgett in NSW.
"Leading up to the competition we prepped them well and did a lot of team bonding... and we just stuck to the game plan," Panthers Coach Terrie Ann Cain said.
"This was really special, putting Mungindi on the map."
The Queensland Murri Carnival is still in progress this week with the Junior Murri Carnival (ages 8-12) wrapping up on Tuesday.
The focus of the competition will then shift to those in the Under 14 to Under 18 age groups from September 26-29.
As part of the registration process, all players were expected to have been up to date with 715 Health Checks, adults were required to have been enrolled to vote and juniors were expected to have maintained at least a 90 per cent school attendance rate.
Queensland Maroons forward David Fifita served as the official Arthur Beetson Foundation Murri Carnival ambassador for 2023.
Former greats Nathan Blacklock, Mark Tookey, Donald Malone, and Jamie Simpson also showed their support.
They joined well-known Indigenous figures including Deadly Choices ambassadors Steve Renouf, Petero Civoniceva, Willie Tonga, Brenton Bowen, and Burleigh Bears grand final five-eighth Tyrone Roberts.
