A frustrating opening day left them with a lot of work to do on finals day, where they couldn’t replicate their success from last year.

“You never know which associations are going to be in it from year to year,” Marino said.

“We always expect it to be a tough competition when we go down there.”

Hastings Valley finished their campaign with three wins and seven losses, but a 21-13 win over Lismore in the elimination final saw them progress to the qualifying final.

A 22-13 victory over Barellan and District Association followed before Northern Suburbs ended Hastings Valley’s state title tilt with a 32-12 win in the semi-final.

Their cause was made that bit more difficult when Britnee Rudd succumbed to injury in just the second game of the tournament.

“We were sixth at the end of day one after playing five games, but the morale of the girls remained high,” Marino said.

Newcastle defeated Hills District in the final – a team that only beat Hastings Valley by two goals earlier in the competition.

The coach said her team’s fighting spirit was on show for the most of the competition despite the challenging situations.

“When you lose game after game sometimes heads can drop, but that didn’t happen for our girls which was great,” Marino said.

“You’re always disappointed not to do as well as you’d like, but each year is different.”

Hastings Valley were competitive in most of their games and Marino admitted they had met the goals they set at the end of day one.

“We didn’t make goals in regards to ranking, but we thought at the end of the first day we could finish fourth or fifth,” Marino said.

“One of the teams we beat in the semi-final we lost to in the first game, so when there were rankings on the line the girls lifted.”

Goal attack Kaylee Davis scored most of Hastings Valley’s goals in their campaign while the defence led by Kellie Hodgson had a high rate of turnovers.

“They had to fight for every goal,” Marino said.

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