Pirates co-coach Mick Squires is hoping it's third time lucky as he starts to look towards next season after COVID again robbed them of their shot at an historic fifth straight Central North premiership.
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Squires is keen to get another crack after what has been a rollercoaster start to his and Todd Pascoe's first grade coaching tenure.
Their first season in charge was abandoned before a ball was even kicked in the competition.
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Then this season they guided the premiers into the semi-finals only for COVID to rear it's ugly head again and the season eventually be cancelled.
"I'll just have to wait and see whether I'm cursed as a coach," Squires joked, with the club yet to appoint coaches for next season.
He said the players were disappointed that they "didn't get to finish it (season)" and spoke of a sense of unfinished business.
"I reckon that finals set up really suited us.
"We were definitely liking our chances," he said.
After battling injury and struggling with consistency throughout the season, he felt like their luck "had turned at the right time".
He isn't sure at this stage whether Pascoe is keen to go around again, but said over the next month he'll reflect on whether how they were playing was "the right way".
"I'll torture myself and watch all our losses again and see what we're missing and see what we need to work on," Squires said.
One thing is the lineout: it was "an area of concern all year".
On the flip side of that, one of the most pleasing things was "the young guys that came through", Squires mentioning the likes of Michael Purtle, Toby Maslen and Jye Taggart.
Another positive was the way some of the younger players stepped up, and the leadership they showed, in the absence of some of the sides' more experienced campaigners.
Nick McCrohan was one of those, and the prospect of him and Conrad Starr on the field together is one of the things that Squires is most excited about next season. He is expecting the inspirational skipper to play on.
"There's no way he (Starr) ends up on that injury prone year," he said.
The No.8 played just three-and-a-half games.
They sorely missed him, but if there was an upside to his injury it was the opportunity it gave McCrohan. He was one of the form players of the competition.
The cancellation of the season was also disappointing for the club's reserve grade and the women's 7s sides with both in contention for the silverware after finishing on top.
