Mackenzie Davis describes her first season in a head coaching role as "nothing I could have expected".
From the outside, gigs could not look tougher.
The 23-year-old was handed the task of helping a crop of emerging talent navigate New Lambton through a rebuilding phase in NPLW Northern NSW.
The Eagles were 2019 premiers and champions but finished with the wooden spoon last year and are again rooted to the bottom of the competition standings with three games to play.
They have not won a game in 18 outings and have conceded a whopping 179 goals.
But, while they have no points on the board, there have been some big wins for Davis.
"It's been way more exciting than I could have hoped," Davis told the Newcastle Herald.
"The girls took me in really quickly. Results are one thing but there has been learning experiences for me as an individual and I could not have anticipated the impact that I was going to be able to have."
The positives have far outweighed the negatives for a group of largely inexperienced players. Asked which ones have made their first-grade debuts, Davis responds: "Most of them."
"It's awesome and it's something I think players came to the club and stayed at the club hoping for," she said. "It's been really nice to be able to deliver on that for them, to give them the minutes and see them learn every week."
There have been some heavy defeats, many in double figures, but Davis has kept morale high.
Her biggest focus has been creating good habits and player enjoyment.
"We always try to work on three really specific things, see if we can execute in the first half and then come back in, see if we've done it, see if we can do it better for the next 45," she said.
"It keeps them focused short term, and just really making sure everyone is comfortable, happy, supported. Those are things that are in my control with such a young squad.
"The amount of girls looking to come back next year is definitely a win."
Davis started the year purely in a coaching capacity but midway through the season stepped out onto the park with Greg Lowe helping on the sidelines.
"It's easy to stand on the sideline and say, 'Lift your head and be positive.' But when you can get out on the field and be positive it's a little more authentic," Davis said.
The club's vision is a long-term one and Davis, who will be head of women's football next year, believes success can come if the core group of current Eagles sticks together.
"Good things take time," Davis said. "These girls will not be 17 forever, so we're hoping that we can provide an environment where they want to stay.
"By the time they're 20 it will be such a well-oiled machine. A three to five-year goal to be at the top is definitely the club's intention."
Plenty of players are hoping to stick around to see that come to fruition.
Goalkeeper Larissa Stace and striker Imogen May, both 17, have become regular first-graders after stepping up from New Lambton's 17s side this year.
Stace described her first-grade debut against competition pace-setters Warners Bay in round one as "eye-opening".
"It's been a massive learning experience," Stace said.
"I've obviously had lots of practice with some of the results we're getting. I get peppered every weekend. But my biggest goal at the moment is to make more saves than goals, and at this point in time that's happening.
"The girls have all got your back. You can make a mistake and they'll just pick you up off the ground and you just go again. And it's the atmosphere that keeps me at New Lambton.
"Hopefully the retention of players for next year is good and we can keep working together as a team and keep building on what we've built this year and continue going forward."
May has played every game this campaign and scored two of New Lambton's seven goals this season.
"It's been an awesome experience being given that opportunity and to score those goals has been even better, it has just skyrocketed my confidence," May said.
"These girls are some of the best people I've ever played with, just all-round good people, and I hope all of them stay. We've built such good friendship and camaraderie. The morale in this team, for the way that we cop it, is so good."
Captain and midfielder Emily Ridgeway, 19, was one of a few who had first-grade experience, although limited, coming into this season.
She scored with an impressive long-range effort in a 7-1 loss to Adamstown last Sunday and the delight at doing so for Ridgeway and her jubilant teammates was evident.
"It's an amazing group of girls," Ridgeway said. "They continuously support one another on the field. At half-time we could be down 7-0 and the shed is still happy and positive to keep playing, and we never actually give up.
"People might say, 'They're getting smashed every week, why would they keep turning up?' But we don't really care because we're playing with each other. We're not yelling at each other. We're motivating each other to be better."
