It also had the Bing Harris Shield.
But along came Carisbrook-Dunedin/Kaikorai (CDK) and whipped away both titles.
The merged club shapes as a threat again this year.
But Valley captain Will Kindley believes the premier grade will be evenly contested, and his side has as much chance as any other.
"I don’t think there is a clear top team," he said.
"There are strong players throughout the teams.
"I think it will be a challenging year for us but we expect ourselves to be right up there.
"We were only a couple of wins away last year."
The Swans finished in third place with 190 points.
CDK (225 points) edged Albion (221) to claim the title in its first year of a trial merger.
Green Island (169.5) and Taieri (164) were competitive, but University-Grange lagged behind with 86.5 points.
One player Valley can lean on to help it win games is fringe Otago batter Llew Johnson.
Johnson blasted an undefeated 256 in a 50-over game early on last summer. He swatted 21 sixes and 15 fours in that knock. Few can match that hitting power.
Hunter Kindley and Thorn Parkes shape as key players in the batting order as well.
The side will be without top-order batter Tom Griffin (retired) this season. He has played more than 150 games for the club.
All-rounder Corey Perrett has moved to the United Kingdom and is another major loss.
Valley can call on up to five Otago contracted players in Travis Muller, Neil Broom, Anaru Kitchen, Michael Rae and Jarrod McKay when they are not busy for the Volts.
Broom may prove the most useful. He does not play first-class cricket any more, so is expected to play club cricket through the early part of the season.
McKay’s younger brother, Kaleb, has joined Valley and is a promising right-armer with the ability to swing the ball both ways.
Valley, which was formed in 1920 , will celebrate its centenary at Waitangi weekend.
It would enhance the celebrations if the club was on track to win the banner by then.
Valley opens its campaign with a one-dayer against Albion at Tonga Park tomorrow.
Albion will be missing some key personnel.
Dutch international Max O’Dowd is unlikely to see much action for the Eagles and Jesse Simpson has moved to Wellington.
Taylor Cumberland is back from injury and will pick up some of the slack with the bat, while Tommy Clout and Josh Cuttance are reliable performers with the ball.
And watch out for Ben Ivory-McCullum. The wicketkeeper-batter is a cousin of Brendon and Nathan McCullum.
Green Island is in a rebuilding phase but still has a reasonable core of proven performers. The Swamprats have picked up new Volts recruit Jake Gibson, but lost experienced all-rounder Geordie Scott to retirement, and batter Gregor Croudis has moved to Christchurch.
They play University-Grange, who will lean on opener Jacob Cumming to help the side post some competitive scores. But he looks set to get an opportunity for the Volts at some stage this season.
Taieri has some promising young players, including Benji Culhane, who scored a century on Hawke Cup debut. The side will be well coached with former Volts coach Vaughn Johnson at the helm.
Taieri has a tough opener against the defending champion, though.
Carisbrook-Dunedin/Kaikorai has returned largely intact with the notable exception of the departure of opener Camden Hawkins.
His runs will be hard to replace but there is still plenty of talent to call on, including 2020-21 club player of the year Josh Finnie.
Point of clarification: University-Grange has one more letter in its name than North East Valley, and a hyphen. But the Swans have an extra word.
Carisbrook-Dunedin/Kaikorai
Placing 2020-21: Champion
Gains: Xavier Chisholm, John Gordon, Thomas Grant, Seb Kyle.
Losses: Camden Hawkins
Squad: Jeremy Smith (c), Seb Kyle, Vinay Chandrappa, Fergus Ellis, Sam James Everton, Kurt Johnston, Hudson James Everton, Jack Pryde, Taine Bayly, Patrick Arnold, Mason James, Jordan Gain, Richard Sillars, Kurtis Weeks, Liam Ryan, Josh Finnie, Jacob Duffy, Thomas Grant, Michael Rippon, Max Chu, Matthew Fisher, Rhys Bayly, Reuben Crean, Xavier Chisholm, John Gordon.
Albion
Placing 2020-21: Second
Gains: Ricki Allan, Ben Ivory-McCullum, Max Griffith
Losses: Jesse Simpson
Squad: Josh Tasman-Jones (c), Ricki Allan, Matt Bacon, Ben Blackman, James Brown, Tommy Clout, Taylor Cumberland, Josh Cuttance, Tim Ford, Max Griffith, Ben Ivory-McCullum, Max O’Dowd, Angus McKenzie, Hamish Rutherford, Sam Wells, Matt West.
North East Valley
Placing 2020-21: Third
Gains: Kaleb McKay
Losses: Tom Griffin, Corey Perrett.
Squad: Will Kindley, Hunter Kindley, Llew Johnson, Thorn Parkes, Oli White, Toby Beale, Nic Brosnahan, Hayden Johnston, Kaleb McKay, Kyle Hastie, Fraser Bartholomew, Sam Johnston, Travis Muller, Neil Broom, Anaru Kitchen, Michael Rae, Jarrod McKay, Tom Walding, Jacob Day, Brandon Roberts, Thomas Harris, Razib Dutta Om.
Green Island
Placing 2020-21: Fourth
Gains: Jake Gibson
Losses: Gregor Croudis, Geordie Scott.
Squad: Joel Meade (c), Josh Kellett, Jed Mockford, Nick Parata, Ryan Whelan, Brad Kneebone, Dan Wright, Max Meffan, Jake Gibson, Nick Kelly, Blair Soper, Jack Mockford, Keegan Russell, Jamie MacDonald, Tony Cardno, Regan Cairns, Christi Viljoen.
Taieri
Placing 2020-21: Fifth
Gains: Cam Elliott, Adam Jones
Squad: Cam Jackson (c), Benji Culhane, Riley Dixon, Cam Elliott, Marcus Frost, Regan Flaws, Angus Herron, Hamish Hunter, Adam Jones, Ben Lockrose, Dale Phillips, Marno Pottinger, Beckham Wheeler-Greenall, Tom Dempster.
University-Grange
Placing 2020-21: Sixth
Losses: Xavier Chisholm, Cameron Elliott
Squad: Jacob Cumming, Venkat Krishna Chaitanya, Jacob Collie, Stephen Markham, Benedict Hardie, Ben Hatton, Shiv Aery, Louis Holt, Charlie Holt, Alex Wilson, Harrison McMillian, Thomas McClean , Joe Ingram, Sam Darling, Dhvanil Gandhi, Seb Laudersdale-Smith, Sam French, Oliver Sharp, Usman Shah, Stan Ashwin, Jithendra Ratnayake.
*Names supplied by Otago Cricket
