Fifth place might appear a disappointing return from the defending Women's Northern champions, but Riverside Olympic are in a rebuilding phase according to coach Jo Haezebrouck.
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"It's been a challenging year," admitted the Belgian who inherited a squad missing many of the players who had won the 2019 title under Lynden Prince.
"From winning the championship and me being new plus a lot of players new to the game as well as the club.
"So in the first half of the season we went back to basics and set up a long-term plan so that in three years we will be ready to challenge again, if we can keep our players."
Despite losing all six games to the top three teams, Olympic showed their potential with a narrow 1-0 loss to the all-conquering Launceston United in round four.
They also recorded 11 different scorers, helping to reduce the reliance on Meg Connolly whose 42 goals last season made her a marked player.
"We had something of a transformation of Meg's role after so many goals last season for her to be involved in other ways and she was very successful at that," Haezebrouck said.
"I'm sure if there had been a third round of fixtures, we could have surprised a lot of people."
As for whether the coach will continue in the role next year, he added: "We will have a conversation about it. I will still be in Launceston and would like to because my work is not finished."