While there, the team suffered their first defeat of the season, but captain Sami Afele said that winning was not the focus of the carnival.

"It was more just for fun," Afele said.

"We're all really good friends and when we saw that come up we thought it would be a good opportunity to play together."

The tournament took place across October 12 and 13 at Albury's Greenfield Park, and the Magpies won all four of their matches on the first day.

The finals took place on the second day, and Yass went down against the Wagga Kangaroos, 12-8, in a thrilling semi-final.

The plan to attend the carnival was made on fairly short notice, so the Magpies attended with 13 players, meaning there were only four subs.

While in the 13s format, four may be a solid number of extras, the nines is a more physically taxing division.

"We only went with 13," Afele said, "so we only had four subs.

"It was definitely different from what we're used to. It was a lot quicker, but definitely a lot of fun."

After the fun that the team had at this year's event, Afele confirmed that they would "definitely" look to attend more nines competitions.

"I think we'd go again next year and try and get all the girls to have a go of it.

"I think we all miss [playing during the off-season], if another one came along we'd be interested."

The advantage of playing in a casual competition like the nines is that teams can use it as an opportunity to test new players and combinations ahead of the season.

"It's kind of like a training run," Afele said.

"You can practice things and try new things, and it's different from regular training."

The entire Yass Magpies club will begin pre-season training in November, with each grade to attend sessions at Walker Park which will be followed by a barbecue.

While maintaining their form over the off-season is important to the Magpies, Afele said that it was the closeness of the team which drew them to events like the one in Albury.

"A lot of us are pretty good friends, we all hang out," she said.

"There's a touch team and a summer soccer team, I don't think we can be apart if we tried."