ST PAT'S were keen to just 'run it back' after taking out last year's Group 10 league tag title, managing to field an almost identical squad for this year's inaugural Western Tag Premiership.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
With a grand final coming up for the team this Sunday it's clearly a choice that's paid off for them.
But as the Saints get ready to take on Dubbo Macquarie Raidettes this weekend they'll be doing so with a couple of new additions to the squad that took down Orange CYMS in this same game 12 months ago.
One of them was former CYMS star Sophie Stammers, while the only other new recruit to the squad was former CSU Mungoes player Lily Walsh.
Walsh has been used as a vital interchange piece for the Saints throughout much of their Western Tag campaign, thriving in her step up to a tougher competition.
She's hoping to help her Saints get revenge on the Raidettes this weekend after the Dubbo squad scored a shock win over them in the semi-finals.
"It's been a really good year so far and I've learned a lot from the girls," Walsh said.
"I've played a bit of touch and league tag with some of the girls before, so it's been a great learning curve.
"We've all been friends through working together at Kelso High as well."
While Walsh hasn't been a part of the Saints' recent four-year run of premiership success she's been a proven title winner in her own right.
In 2021 Walsh helped the Mungals squad extend their title run to seven straight premierships in the Mid West Cup before the university side made the move to the Woodbridge Cup in 2022.
The jump across to the new Western Tag Premiership has been a fun eye opener for the former CSU star.
"The experience has been great," she said.
"I used to play for the Mungoes so moving in to Group 10 meant I was going into a faster comp compared to the Mid West and Woodbridge Cup."
The Raidettes' 16-12 win over the Saints in the opening week of finals forced Pat's to reassess where they could improve if they were to keep their bid for a fifth straight premiership season alive.
In their latest wins over Forbes Magpies (46-12) and Orange CYMS (28-14) the Saints have looked in top notch form.
Walsh said those are great games to take into the big one.
"It's good that after losing to Macquarie we get to play them in the final," she said.
"We're all feeling positive ahead of the game. It'd be great to get a bit of revenge. I think it's great that we'll be taking on a Group 11 team.
"We're the only team from Bathurst that's left so hopefully we get a lot of supporters to come over from our clubs, and maybe some other clubs might throw some support behind us too."
- Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.