That loss was to Sawtell in Round 12 of the competition when they were missing several key players.

The team met Sawtell the weekend before last week in the final and came out with a comfortable victory. Sawtell will be the opponents again on Sunday, for the grand final at Macksville, after they defeated the Macleay Valley Mustangs by 32 points to 10 on Sunday.

The boys have had solid training sessions last week with an extra session, followed by a barbecue, on Sunday.

They will need to be fully focused when they match up against Sawtell, who will be out to avenge the loss on September 6.

In that game, Sawtell capitalised on its kicking game to score two tries and were in front at half time.

Fortunately, Nambucca remained focused and took control of the game in the second half.

Nambucca will not be able to give Sawtell any such leeway in the grand final as they will have learnt from their mistakes in the final.

Nambucca has a talented group of players. The halves, Cameron Cohen, Matt Archer and Larnus Leesha, direct the play and respond best when the pressure is on.

Hooker, Brad Field also knows when to apply the pressure and has scored several tries from the play-the-ball close to the line, by diving under the ruck. The forwards, Alex Hull, Patrick Sneesby, Jordan Hollis, Jack Seymour have plenty of force and don’t hesitate to take the big hits.

Kyle Cohen at full back continually confuses the defence with his speed and fancy footwork. Centre Jayden Austen has shown that he has plenty of speed and has made many try-saving tackles during the season. His partner, Rye Palmer, also has speed and agility to push play forward.

Added to this is the depth of quality players on the bench.

The Roosters have shown that their defence is also something for the opposition to conquer as they have continually kept their oppositions’ scores to a minimum.