Pirates womens 7s co-coach Anthony Barbara has lauded Phoebe McLoughlin one of the most gifted footballers he has seen.
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One of the stars of Pirates' New England premiership triumph, McLoughlin was, despite only playing half the season, for the second year in-a-row, adjudged their players' player.
It's a measure of her immense talent and how outstanding she was in the games she did play. None more so than in the grand final where as well as the players' player she also picked up the three best and fairest points.
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"She's skillful and can just read a game and put players away," Barbara noted.
Claudia Nielsen was another standout and added yet another accolade to her list taking out the best and fairest.
The competition's highest pointscorer with 116 points including 22 tries, she polled the three points in three of their seven games and finished with 13 points.
Lara De Jong was second on eight and named the rookie of the year.
Also a talented horsewoman, Barbara said she was one of their best all year and remarked on her development over the season.
"She's come so far. She's really shown she's got some skills," he said.
"Her confidence and the way she grew throughout the year was quite impressive."
"Round 1 she was quiet and nervous, come the finals she was comfortable with where she was."
He said she always had a running game, but her passing game and vision improved a lot during the year as she started to believe in "what she can do".
Also part of the Calrossy under-18s side that won the North West Regional Youth competition, Barbara believes the teenager is good enough to play at "higher levels" and is excited to see what she can do next season.
The senior women were one of two Pirates sides to snare the silverware this season with the club's under-14s girls winning their division in the Friday night competition.
In what was an outstanding effort they amassed over 650 points for the season with Emily Dietrich (152), Tomi Gavin (124) and Bonnie Porter (100) all scoring 100 or more points, and conceded less than 100.
