There might not have been any NSW Country Championships joy for the Central North and New England sides on the weekend, but a couple of local talents did get their hands on some silverware.
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Armidale's Georgie Ball and Guyra's Kasey Gaukroger were part of the Hunter side that won the symbol of country women's rugby supremacy - the Thomson Cup.
Ball started at fullback and Gaukroger on the wing in Sunday's final, which Hunter won 13-3 to end Central West's three year reign.
For so long themselves the queens of country rugby - Hunter held the trophy for something like 17 years - both said it was "pretty special" to help them win it back.
It especially was for Ball.
She's been part of the side the last three years.
The 25-year-old is a relative late-comer to the sport.
She only picked up a rugby ball for the first time in 2020 after being told that she was "a little bit too rough" for the sport she had grown up playing - soccer.
"So I kind of just stopped playing sport for a little bit, and then one of my mates was like 'do you want to come and play footy?'," she said.
Admittedly she thought, she meant league. She didn't even really know rugby "was a thing" until she lobbed up for her first training session at Wanderers.
"The first year was a big learning curve but then ever since then it's been so good," the physiotherapy student said.
Good is a bit of an understatement.
Last season she helped Wanderers reclaimed their mantle as the top women's team in the Newcastle competition.
On the back of her performances for Hunter at the country championships, she was also selected in the NSW Country side to play at the Australian Country Championships in Adelaide and was part of the Newcastle Uni squad for the Uni 7s series.
Both were amazing experiences.
Like Ball, rugby isn't Gaukroger's first sporting love, although she admits it is quickly starting to challenge league as her favourite.
Deciding this year to "try out for a bit of rep rugby", the weekend was the 20-year-old's first major tournament.
"The girls were all so welcoming. I probably knew two people out of the whole team but we all came together and it was really good," she said.
Initially moving to Newcastle to pursue league opportunities, after cutting her rugby teeth in the Friday night juniors competition and then with Barbets in the New England [then 7s] competition, she has for the past few seasons been juggling both codes of a weekend.
"I just wanted to try something different," Gaukroger said about getting into rugby down there.
Playing with Merewether Carlton, she was their players' player last season.
This year playing league with Charlestown she was at the start of the year part of the Newcastle Knights Harvey Norman Women's Premiership campaign.
It followed two years with the Tarsha Gale Cup (under 19) squad, which culminated in a grand final finish in 2022.
She only got to play a few games but it was a great experience all the while.
"It was different, it was a good step," Gaukroger said.
"You just learnt so much each training session.
"The girls are obviously so experienced and have been there for a while."
Training alongside, and sharing the field, with the likes of Queensland fullback Tamika Upton, she admits she was prone to the odd 'fangirl' moment.
Wrapping up in late April, it was then straight into the local league and union seasons.
"League is usually mostly on Sunday's or early morning's on Saturday so it works out pretty well," she said of juggling the two.
She would love to one day be able to play football at a professional level, but is for now just taking things as they come.
"I'm just going to see what happens. It's very competitive, there's so many girls competing in both codes," she said.
