"We'll always be a development club,'' coach Mick Grass said.

Mid Coast is the only club in the league not based in the Hunter. Grass said it appears quality players seem to swap clubs in the league each year.

"That's the way it seems to go in this competition. The quality players seem to move around the clubs,'' Grass said.

However, Grass said there's no chance of a mass of players heading up the Pacific Highway.

"It comes down to money as well as the lifestyle young players enjoy,'' he explained.

"We'll always be a development club. But when we develop players we hope that we can keep them for a few seasons, although we'll always lose younger players who have to leave the area for work or to go to uni.''

Mid Coast remains in the hunt for a top four berth with two games remaining in the competition-proper. This follows two great results last weekend in a double header against Merewether United. Mid Coast defeated the previously unbeaten Merewether 3-2 in Taree in a catch-up game on Saturday and held United to a 1-1 draw on Sunday in Newcastle. Mid Coast now sits just two points behind fourth placed Warners Bay.

Grass said that the current first grade squad is still a few years from peaking.

"We still have a lot of players in their teens,'' he pointed out.

Grass conceded that four successive games in Newcastle proved to be a major hurdle to Mid Coast's chances of finishing in the first grade semi-finals. Mid Coast lost three of the games before accounting for last placed Thornton. Mid Coast has players from as far away as Tamworth and Coffs Harbour travelling to games.

"It was slightly better than last year - we played five games in a row in Newcastle then,'' he said.

He's unsure why the season is structured this way, although he hopes a more equitable draw can be worked out for 2021.

Mid Coast will play Adamstown in Newcastle this weekend before meeting Broadmedow Magic in Taree in the final round.