Two Glen Innes locals are preparing for their second women's rugby league Country Championships campaign.
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Amelia Tunamena and Lauren Clarke will represent the Greater Northern Tigers for the second year in-a-row at the tournament which commences this Saturday in Lismore.
They will face the Northern Rivers Titans.
There was a different process to select the squad for this year's tournament with players trialling at the Tigers Academy rather than being selected through Group pathways.
Last year the Tigers women didn't make the finals with one win and one loss in their opening two matches and a host of players admitted they weren't prepared mentally for what was to come.
"I feel the Tigers Academy has been beneficial in preparing us as a whole team," Clarke said.
"The squad is feeling great. We are feeling more prepared after having the opportunity of a trial match this time around."
The team played a trial match against Newcastle at Farrer two weeks ago and, despite being down 12-nil at one stage of the match, found their composure to bring the deficit to 12-8.
"Newcastle are a team who have played and trained together a lot more than us," Clarke said.
"They had already had a couple of trial matches this year.
"We were flat in the first third and still working ourselves out as a team and they got three tries on us.
"After some feedback from the coaches in the first break, we did what they asked and held Newcastle out for the rest of the game and landed two of our own tries.
"The trial filled its purpose and hopefully this weekend we can get the win against Lismore."
Tunamena agreed and said the trial "made a world of difference."
"We played three 20 minute thirds and the difference from the first third to the final third was unreal," she said.
"Everything was gelling more and it was just progressing like that each time we came together."
It's a bit of a different side to the one who took on the inaugural championships.
"There's more new faces than what I expected," Tunamena said.
"But it is not a bad thing, they are all really quality players and offer something different."
They'll have one more chance to ensure their combinations come together before round one begins.
"We are going to train when we get to Lismore on Friday so hopefully we can iron the kinks out," Tunamena said.
Both players play women's rugby sevens on a regular basis so the contact doesn't faze them but Clarke said it can be difficult switching between the two.
"I think it is definitely beneficial in regards to ball playing and running lines for example, however I am realising how different they are the more I play each one," she said.
"In union 7s release a player straight after a tackle, and in league you are wanting to hold in the tackle for longer to control the pace of the game. I find that difficult switching between the two codes."
The Tigers under-16, under-18 and under-23 men's sides will all play on the same day with the 16s beginning at 10am.
Matches will be livestreamed from the NSW Rugby League website.