Nelson Bay meet Newcastle City in the championship match at No.1 Sportsground on Saturday in a repeat of last year’s grand final.

The Marlins dropped just one match on their way to capturing the minor premiership in the inaugural women’s season last year.

But they were beaten 4.5 (29) to 1.1 (7) by City in the grand final.

“I find Newcastle are probably stronger bodied and that affected us last year,” Cooper said.

“We stopped playing our game and we lost because we were trying to play the same as them which doesn’t work for us.

“They know what it’s like to lose a grand final, so that definitely helps as well, a bit of motivation there to not have that feeling again.”

The Marlins went through the season undefeated this year and booked passage straight into the grand final with a 7.12 (54) to 2.0 912) semi-final win over Gosford.

City joined them after a 100-point annihilation of Gosford in the preliminary final last Saturday.

Cooper, who did not play this year due to a knee injury, said Nelson Bay has bolstered their squad this year and was encouraged by their consistently strong form through the season.

They have beaten City both times they have met, winning 4.7 (31) to 3.1 (19) in round one and 6.5 (41) to 2.5 (17) in round 12.

“We have quite a few of what I would call natural athletes, so that has definitely helped us,” Cooper said.

“Our numbers are at least 10 more than last year too and that’s given us a bit more room for movement because by the time we got to the grand final last year we only had 18 or 19 on the day.

“And this year we’re not battling with girls playing two sports. We had girls play in the netball grand final before the footy grand final last year.”

Cooper said rated their semi-final win over second-placed Gosford as “one of the best team games we’ve played”. 

“It was everyone, not just the same players each week, which was good,” she said.

Six teams contested the women’s Black Diamond Cup last year then the competition expanded to 10 teams.

“It’s been a lot better,” Cooper said. 

“The top five this year has been a whole lost closer, which has made it much better footy to play as well. 

“It’s going to be hard for the brand new teams going up against the teams like us who have played a year already, but, you look at Cardiff and they came fourth and did really well considering it’s their first year in. 

“Next year it’s going to be even better.”

Cooper said she is “itching” to get back on the field next year but has enjoyed developing her coaching capacity.

She has been rewarded for her efforts by being named a finalist in the emerging leader category in the nationwide Football Woman of Year awards.