Among those the Central North under-15 girls impressed as they added a NSW Juniors State Championships runner-up medal to their collection was a former Wallaroo.
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Kate Brown coached the Kookaburras girls on the weekend and said it was an awesome effort from them.
"They played out of their skins and they really showed their talents," she said.
After finishing second at last month's Country Championships, the Kookaburras stepped up and showed they can match it with the best sides in the state.
In the final they came up against a Brisbane side they had beaten in the pool games. But with injuries and fatigue hampering them they were unable to repeat their earlier success going down 36-24.
"Being a smaller built team, playing against the big Sydney and Brisbane teams took it out of us," Brown said.
Brown, who represented Australia at the 2017 women's rugby World Cup and has returned to her native Scone, took over the coaching duties from David Maher for the state chamionships and said they were "a great group of girls".
Being her first time coaching at the championships, she wasn't really sure what to expect but couldn't have asked for any more from the girls.
They hadn't the chance to train together since the country championships and had lost two of their key players. Added to that their first game on Saturday was their first time playing 15s, with the country titles played as 10s.
"The girls really stepped up," she said, adding that as a team they just improved over the carnival.
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They were undefeated through the pool games to finish on top of their pool.
It put them into a semi-final with their nemesis from the country champs - Hunter.
The Kookaburras got their revenge scoring on the hooter to claim a spot in the final.
"The girls were over the moon," Brown said.
She praised the way they held their composure right to the end to get the win.
It is the end of the program for them as far as 15s.
They now go into trials for the sevens side to contest the State Championships later in the year. Brown said their performance on the weekend, and at the country champs, augers well for a strong showing.
"I'm very excited to see how they go in the sevens," she said.
She said it's exciting to see so much promising young talent coming through, and the opportunities available to girls now to pursue the sport.
"It's really exciting. There was a couple of girls I used to play with down there (Sydney) and we were just saying how jealous we are that girls are getting so many opportunities," she said.
The under-14 boys also played some good solid rugby over the weekend, finishing with three wins, a draw and two losses. The under-12 boys meanwhile placed 10th overall. Both sides had also finished runners-up in their respective country championships.
