When Laura Hall went down in clear distress two minutes into the second half of Newcastle Olympic's must-win preliminary final with Broadmeadow on Saturday night, coach Paul DeVitis was not worried.
The game at Magic Park remained locked at nil-all and it would be a huge loss if Olympic's captain and tireless midfield workhouse could not play on.
The 32-year-old had dislocated the thumb on her right hand by landing on it after a challenge for the ball with Magic's Rhali Dobson.
Feeling something wasn't right, Hall looked down at the hand then shook the thumb back into place before hitting the deck.
After some medical treatment to strap up the hand, she was back in action.
Newcastle Olympic's coach expected nothing less.
"She is like the warrior of the team, and everyone knows that," DeVitis said post-match on Saturday night.
"When she went down, I could see straight away that she had dislocated her finger just from how she was holding it. We were joking on the sideline that she's fine, she'll play on, and she did.
"She just personifies what we want here. That's people that work hard the whole game, have good technical skill and just want to win. She is the leader of that, hence she's the captain."
By the end of the match, which Olympic won 3-1 to clinch another grand final appearance, Hall told the Newcastle Herald the pain had definitely started to set it.
The thumb was "pretty bruised and swollen" by Sunday but nothing that would stop her leading Olympic in their second championship decider.
Hall is one of several players remaining from Olympic's 2020 side which clinched the premiership-championship double. They beat Warners Bay 3-2 for grand final glory.
Hall sealed the win with a goal in the 65th minute after teammate Jemma House had scored a first-half double.
Olympic will face the Panthers again in the NPLW Northern NSW title decider at No.2 Sportsground this Sunday.
At a grand final media call at the venue on Monday, Hall admitted it had been a much tougher route this time.
"This has been a hard season for us," Hall said. "We've suffered injury after injury. Big injuries to starting players. Broken bones."
Olympic replaced Wallsend in the competition in 2020 and lost just two games in each of their first two campaigns.
They finished a close second to Broadmeadow last year in a season cut short by COVID.
Results have been less consistent this year.
Olympic lost nine games from 21 to finish fourth, three points ahead of fifth-placed Maitland and 21 points behind premiers Warners Bay.
"We have struggled when we haven't necessarily needed the points," Hall said.
"But the games we needed to win to get into the semis, the you've got to win this or you're out, we've won those games, and I think it's probably the experience from the players that played two years ago in the big games."
They are however one of only two teams, along with Magic, who have managed to beat the Panthers this year.
The 4-2 loss to Olympic in round 10 on May 28 was Warners Bay's last.
They have won 13 straight since, including a 6-1 victory over Broadmeadow in the major semi-final.
Olympic, meanwhile, have survived two intense sudden death finals to join the Panthers in the grand final.
Hall expects both matches to have them battle-hardened for this weekend.
"We've been to war the last few weeks," Hall said.
"Now, it's 90 minutes and we're going to give it everything we've got. Niggles aside, injuries aside, strap the boots up and we're pumped."
The women's grand final (5pm) will follow the NPL men's (2pm) on Sunday.
