Olympic captain Laura Hall on young talent Sophie Walmsley

The trio will have a key role to play in Olympic's midfield as they battle premiers Broadmeadow for championship glory in the NPLW Northern NSW grand final at Magic Park on Sunday (5pm).

Last year, Dagg and Hall were on opposing grand final teams. The former helped mastermind Warners Bay's win against the latter's Olympic.

Dagg was one of several new faces in Olympic's first-grade squad this year and Walmsley earned promotion after a strong reserve-grade campaign.

"I love playing with Elodie," Hall said at a grand final captains' call on Monday.

"I think she's the best player in the league, so it's a real honour to be in the midfield with her.

"I used to coach Sophie when she was in under 14s. She's 20 now and is brilliant. She is becoming so strong.

"This has been her break-out season, and to play alongside someone like that, who I've seen in juniors, is really special.

"She got players player last match. She was pivotal in that win and she's earned her starting spot."

Olympic are yet to beat Broadmeadow in four exchanges this season, but captain Kalista Hunter knows form on the board does not always count in finals.

The two sides drew 3-3 in round four before Magic won 2-1 in round 11 then 3-2 in round 18. Broadmeadow were the first team through to this year's grand final after beating Olympic 3-1 in the qualifying semi-final on August 25.

Olympic joined them in the title decider after defeating Maitland 3-1 in the preliminary final last Saturday.

"Finals are just a whole different ball game, but we do take confidence from that," Hunter said.

"I do have confidence that we'll be able to get the job done."

Magic had previously been unable to win a finals match since returning to the league in 2020.

"To get here is just huge," Hunter said.

"We've finally done it. We've just got to execute now."

Newcastle Olympic coach Neil Owens has declared leading scorer Jemma House "good to start" for Sunday's grand final.

The 26-year-old striker has been nursing an ankle injury since the competition's final round.

House, who has scored 25 goals this season, was in the United States being inducted into the Laramie County Community College 2023 Hall of Fame Class when Olympic lost the semi-final to Magic. She sat unused on the bench against Maitland last weekend.

Owens was set to put House on at 2-0 but changed his mind when Olympic went up 3-0 against the Magpies.

The coaches of the other NPLW top-four finalists have both played in favour of Broadmeadow to take the spoils on Sunday.

Maitland coach Keelan Hamilton expected the premiers to prevail, although conceded it was a "tough" call.

"It will be tight, but I think Broadmeadow with the week off will be hard to beat," Hamilton said.

Charlestown Azzurri coach Niko Papaspiropoulos agreed it would be close.

"I'd slightly tip Magic, purely on the fact that this year in all the key games in the back end of the season, including the major semi, they have managed to get the job done," Papaspiropoulos said.

"In previous years, they have faltered in those final steps. This year, they seem to have been able to overcome that roadblock."

The Premier Youth League Girls grand finals are also being contested at Magic Park on Sunday. In 13s (8.20am), Adamstown play Azzurri. Adamstown then take on Maitland in 15s action (10.20am) and the Magpies go up against Olympic for the 17s title (12.20pm).

In NPLW reserve grade, Olympic face Azzurri at 2.20pm.

Warners Bay coach Ryan Swinkels expects to retain the bulk of his senior squad for 2024 as the club continue through a rebuilding phase.

Swinkels told the Newcastle Herald he was only looking for a handful of players to fill out the rosters across first and reserve grade.

A star-studded Panthers secured the NPLW premiership-championship double in 2022 but collected the wooden spoon this year after a mass exodus of players.

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