"Pretty blessed with a very good team", naturally Tamworth under 18s girls coach Gabbi D'Ambros went into the State Championships with "pretty high expectations".
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But, talent and expectation, isn't always matched by performance.
That wasn't the case at Narellan over the weekend with the side triumphing over Hockey Coffs Coast 2-1 in the Division 2 final on Sunday to be crowned state champions.
It's what D'Ambros always believed they were capable of; even if things got off to "a bit of a rocky start".
With a couple of players based up in Armidale and five of the side involved in Hockey NSW's Futures Academy and having their own training commitments with them, it was "difficult" to get them all together for training.
But they were able to get in a few sessions.
The other big challenge was melding the different skill levels and making sure "everyone was on the same page", and D'Ambros admits driving down on Thursday she was a bit worried about "how they'd all sort of come together and get along".
Bar a couple of Services players and a couple that were stepping up from the 18B's side she coached last year, she also didn't really know any of them, which she said was "quite nerve-racking".
But it all came together well.
The win earned them promotion up to Division 1 for 2025, which was, for D'Ambros at least, the goal.
"I never really sort of told the girls or mentioned it to them so I'm not sure what their approach was to that Div 1 spot, but definitely driving down there on Thursday I was very keen to put my foot in the door and see what we could do," she said.
Their campaign wasn't without any hiccups with state rep Makenna Barnett-Suey injuring her hamstring in the opening minutes of their first game.
"So we lost her for most of the weekend," D'Ambros said.
"She did end up coming back and playing but she was only on for sort of four minutes at a time every so often."
"I think she was still the leading goal scorer in our team.
"But she's just a crazy weapon of a kid."
One of their key players, she admits she was a bit worried about how they would respond.
But they just got on with the job.
"They all just stepped up and no-one was too fazed," she said.
The boys side coached by Greg Doolan meanwhile finished fifth in Division 1.
Tamworth also had a number of players playing with other teams.
Ollie Burrows, Tom Holmes, Will Judd and Henry Richard helped the Hockey New England boys win Division 2, while Anna George was part of the Wagga Wagga team that won Division 3 in the girls and Ella Tanna was with the Coffs Coast team that Tamworth beat in the final.
