Fast forward 12 months and the Pirates head into Saturday’s Mid North Coast Rugby Union women’s final as hot favourites for the clash with Wauchope at Oxley Oval.

In a clash which pits the two foundation teams against each other, Pirates captain Ashleigh Cocking said it had already been a successful season for the team, regardless of the result.

They have only suffered one loss to Coffs Harbour and a draw so far this season.

“It’s the complete opposite to last year where we lost for most of the year,” Cocking said.

“But this year we just had a great culture to start with and we continued to build our skills and our support of each other and we’ve had a great year so far.”

Cocking said the competition had seen an increase in numbers of teams to five, which was different to last year.

“Last year we only really had Wauchope to play so we had more gala days than weekly competitions, but this year because we have more teams we’ve been able to play weekly and our skills have improved that way.”

Pirates have kept the majority of their playing group together which has contributed to their success.

“We had a lot of the players from last year that played again this year,” Cocking said.

“And we had a whole lot of new players join us which was great, so we’ve doubled in numbers and trained hard and re-focused ourselves.”

The Pirates captain said her team had now become used to what was required to play rugby each week where lineouts and contested scrums are part of the the game.

“We’ve become a bit more accustomed to what’s expected in rugby this year and it’s taken off in the region and women have gotten involved,” she said.

“It’s great for the group of girls we have because we all get along so well and it’s great that a sport can do that.”

Cocking knows the Thunder will be a tough opponent on Saturday, but she was confident her team would be able to win its first premiership.

“It’s going to be a hard game and we’ve only played them once this year where we beat them 21-5,” she said.

“It’s a bit unexpected what they’ll come up with, but they’re a good, tough side.”

Regardless of the result, Cocking was satisfied with the success of her team this year.

“We’ve exceeded everything, it’s been a good season,” she said.

“The girls are the only ones from the club that made the grand final, but we have the club coming to support us which is great.

“They have done that all year so we’re looking forward to the grand final.”

The match kicks off at 9am.