Newcastle Olympic coach Harmonie Attwill knows success is built on everyone consistently playing their part, not individual performances.
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It has been the key to Olympic securing the premiership in their maiden Herald Women's Premier League season and will be integral when they attempt to seal grand final glory against Warners Bay on Sunday.
Attwill admits it has obviously helped having the competition's leading scorer in Jemma House, who has struck 31 times in 15 appearances.
But equally important has been the experience of often unsung heroes Laura Hall and Keely Gawthrop in midfield and of captain and centre-back Sophie O'Brien. The trio have provided the backbone to each performance.
"They are super consistent," Attwill said. "I can rely on them and I know that they'll always do their job. They'll always try their hardest and they lift those around them as well when we need it. It's not always about being the best player necessarily, but that level of consistency differentiates the good players from the great players."
All three last played finals football in 2016 as part of a Wallsend team which lost 1-0 to Warners Bay in the championship decider. In the following three years the Red Devils were known as a team with talent but one that was not a premiership threat.
Olympic took over Wallsend's WPL licence this year in a move that has proved pivotal.
Under what Hall described as Attwill's "old-school, no-nonsense" coaching style and with the support of the National Premier League club, the players have flourished.
"The last few years with Wallsend we've been playing good football but we've never been the team that pulls off the wins and gets the points," Hall, 30, said.
"But this year things fall our way, I think because we're confident and we have a winning mentality. We have high expectations of ourselves and we're feeling confident going into the grand final. We've done everything we can to prepare.
"The whole club is behind us and there's no pressure from them. Just do our best, which everyone does, every week. That's the expectation and everyone is at that level."
Olympic were the first team into the grand final after beating Broadmeadow 2-1 in extra time of the major semi-final. Warners Bay defeated Merewether 6-2 in the minor semi-final then Magic 5-4 in the preliminary final last Saturday.
"In the past, we would have lost that major semi-final because we didn't have that mentality of you keep going right until the end," O'Brien, 22, said.
"This year the expectation is different and everyone wants to do it for themselves, the team and the club as a whole. "
Gawthrop, 29, was the competition's player of the year in 2015 and joined Olympic after two seasons out of WPL.
"I was pretty sceptical at the start because I didn't think I would have the fitness and I thought I was done, a cooked egg, for WPL," Gawthrop said. "Harmonie had heard I was coming back and hit me up to play and I thought I'd give it one more crack.
"It was pretty hard at the start but I tried to smash myself with cardio through the week to get to where these girls were coming from. The club have been awesome and the girls are all great. We've got a good mix of youth and experience."
In already a history-making year, Olympic have also claimed the WPL club championship. Reserve grade were premiers and all four grades finished in the top four to make finals. Olympic will also field teams in the reserve-grade and 17-years grand finals on Sunday.
The Herald WPL grand finals will be played at Macquarie Field after the discovery on Wednesday of a plovers' nest on Adamstown Oval, where the championship deciders were originally set to be contested.
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