Port Macquarie Makos defeated by Peninsula Piranhas in mixed masters grand final at 2020 NSW State Cup

Port Macquarie Makos now know otherwise following a 6-2 NSW State Cup mixed masters grand final defeat to Peninsula Piranhas on Sunday.

Just 12 months ago the Makos and Piranhas faced off in the tournament decider only for the host town to watch on as Peninsula celebrated.

History again repeated despite the Makos scoring the first try through captain Bec Howard.

"Hopefully it's third time lucky next year because I'm bloody sick of silver medals now, that's my fourth," she said.

Howard, however, conceded there were plenty of differences from last year's squad to this year's and just making the final game of the tournament was seen as a success.

"Last year we expected to make finals whereas this year we went in with no expectations so to get to the grand final is a massive effort," she said.

"We didn't have a full team until the Friday, but we lost it for ourselves with a lot of errors in the game. We were exhausted."

The changed format of the tournament due to public health orders and restrictions required teams to play back-to-back fixtures which suited the Port Macquarie side.

It just wasn't to be.

"We were lucky we only had two back-to-back games and that suited us better especially because a few of us were carrying injuries," Howard said.

"We found the second game so much better because we were warm and injuries weren't hurting as much so we liked that."

The performance of Colleen Nosworthy was a standout in a challenging weekend for players.

"She did everything that was asked of her and she got moved into positions two or three times and she just got on with the job," Howard said.

Meanwhile, Port Macquarie's women's open B division side suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 semi-final defeat to Western Suburbs.

The association's men's 40s bowed out in the quarter-finals when Newcastle City registered a 3-2 win.

The women's 20s and senior mixed sides didn't progress out of the group stage.

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