While United were bundled out of the competition 1-0 to East Armidale in their first finals match, Wade was still satisfied with their overall performance.

They registered a 2-all draw against eventual winners Coffs Tigers as well as a 0-all draw with last year’s winners West Pymble.

Comfortable wins over Woolgoolga (3-0) and Nambucca Heads (7-0) were also part of their campaign.

“We had arguably the toughest pool out of the lot with Coffs and West Pymble,” Wade said.

“It was a good fitness test for our players and we know we’ve still got a fair bit of work to do ahead of the season.”

Wade said his team struggled to find any consistency against teams that pressed them when they had possession.

“In that format, it’s so quick that if you come up against a team that doesn’t let you play fancy you need to get a bit more mongrel in you,” he said.

The absence of regular central defender Eli Wade provided problems in the first game before United fixed their defensive issues for the remainder of the weekend.

“We were a little bit disorganised against Coffs early on,” he said.

Wade said “no one really missed out on any game time” due to having four substitutes in each match.

“Sam Taylor was pretty good for us,” he said.

United wrap up their pre-season with a trial match against Warners Bay at Wayne Richards Park from 3.45pm on Saturday.