Napier City Rovers had their debut championship win over Mount Maunganui, in doing so taking the title away from the main centres for only the second time.
[1] Traditionally, their places would have been taken by the top ranked teams in a play-off between the winners of the northern, central, and southern regional leagues.
Mount Maunganui had led for much of the campaign, producing a 17 match unbeaten run in the early part of the season which had them on top.
In the end it came down to the league's closest ever winning margin between the two sides, and Napier's more prodigious striking skills won the day.
Perennial title contenders, they lacked some of the sparkle of previous campaigns but still amassed the greatest number of goals and finished just three points off the pace.
Hutt Valley United finished fifth despite recording the season's biggest defeat by eight goals at Mount Wellington's Bill McKinlay Park.
Christchurch United slipped to sixth from being title contenders earlier in the season, a result of an uncharacteristic late-season slump.
Manurewa finished in ninth, but effectively denied Mount Maunganui the title by holding on in the final match of the season to draw 1–1 with the Bay of plenty side.
A change of coach and Colin Tuaa's regained touch in front of goal saw their fortunes rise, but it was too late for them to even get to mid table.