It was sweet revenge for the Tamworth 40s women as they claimed the NSW Senior State Cup title at Coffs Harbour on the weekend.
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Knocked out by Central Coast in the semi-finals last year, the Taipans accounted for them 2-1 in the final to win the gold.
Their triumph highlighted what was Tamworth's most successful State Cup ever with the 50s men (Division 1) and 30s men (Division 2) both also picking up silver.
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Tamworth Oztag coordinator Pam Potts couldn't have been happier with how the sides performed with the results exceeding her expectations.
"To get seven of the 10 teams through to finals is a pretty good effort to start with and to actually get three medals to go with it is even better," she said.
"We've never actually had a 30s men's go that far before."
The open women's also had their best result finishing third overall after going down to the eventual winners 6-3 in their semi-final.
Stepping up from the 35s last year, 40s co-coach Jason Smith was "quietly confident" going into the weekend.
"On the back of last year I knew we could do better, I knew we had the potential to win the competition," he said.
The players equally shared that confidence. After coming so close last year, they had the belief that they could not only be competitive but beat the other teams.
After a good start, Smith said they didn't perform quite as well on the second day - a 2-nil loss to the Central Coast after drawing with them 2-all on the first day illustrating that point - but "when it came time for the finals, the games that mattered, they switched on".
Despite Central Coast scoring first, he said seeing their attitude and mindset taking the field, he always felt "pretty comfortable."
"They were focused and ready for the win," he said.
The last couple of minutes were a bit nerve-racking with one of the Tamworth players picking up an injury and the game having to be moved while she was attended to, but the players held their nerve.
Smith said one of the things that really stood out for him was their attitude in defence.
"Defence set the games up for us," he said.
Something they had spoken about going into the tournament, in eight games they conceded only 10 tries.
The win was a good reward for what was "a bit of a long campaign".
Postponed at the height of the pandemic, "pretty confident" that the tournament would still go ahead at some stage, Smith said they once they were allowed to they pretty much got back into training and trained through most of the winter.
But the hard work was worth it as they enjoyed their first State Cup win.
The core of the side has been playing together for a few years but it was the first campaign for three of the players.
They will now have a few weeks off before starting their preparations for their title defence. At this stage the tournament is scheduled to be held in it's usual March timeslot.
