From an historic four sides in the finals, it's now down to two for Tamworth after a tough opening weekend to the New England finals series.
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All four Magpies sides went down in their respective fixtures.
It started on Saturday with third grade beaten by St Albert's 29-21 in their major semi-final. Second grade were then upset by the students 20-12.
Fortunately both sides had finished in the top two - second grade were minor premiers - so will get a second chance to make the grand final this Saturday.
Not so first grade and the women with their minor semi-final losses on Sunday meaning their season is done.
But both went down fighting, their heart-break only heightened by how close they came.
First grade were edged out by Armidale 24-17, and the women 24-22 by Glen Innes.
The second straight year the women have fallen at the minor semi-final hurdle, and to the Elkettes, the over riding emotion was obviously one of disappointment.
"We're disappointed for the girls, Ben (Watts) and I, and they'll be disappointed," co-coach Rob Mills said.
"I'll do a bit of soul searching before next year and so will they."
Sunday will probably hurt a bit more than last year.
Then playing in their first-ever final, they gave them a 34-point head start. This time they were right in it the whole game and had their chances in the final minutes to potentially snatch it.
Last year trailing 15-nil at the first break, Mills said he wasn't too worried down 10-nil at quarter-time. He knew they had it in them to come back.
"We had a chat after the first quarter and it was a positive and negative chat," he said.
"[And] They came straight back out and away we went."
They fought back to lead by two at half-time, and then by five at the final break.
Mills pin-pointed their ball handling as one of the big things that probably hurt them, especially in those latter stages.
They were also missing a couple of key players with Ellie Hannaford a notable presence on the sideline, nursing a black eye after fracturing her eye socket in their last round loss to Robb College.
Eliza Bennett was also out with an ankle injury.
Their captain and inspirational leader, they particularly missed Hannaford's direction.
Isabel Davis stepped into the half-back role, and did "a really good job" Mills said, but it was hard.
One of the real positives from his perspective was that they "went out and played our game".
And while it "didn't come off the best" on the day, they still have a lot to be proud of.
Preliminary Final - Saturday 2nd September, Alcatraz Rugby Park Armidale
3pm 1st grade - Barbarians V Armidale Blues
1.45 pm Women's 10's - Barbarians V Glen Innes
12.10pm 2nd grade - Tamworth V Glen Innes
10.40am 3rd grade - Tamworth V Tenterfield