Despite being outgunned and eliminated, Olympia coach Glen McNeill praised his opponents, lauding Chris Coyne's side's impressive performance, tipping them to take home the national silverware.
Olympia FC Warriors bowed out of the Playstation 4 National Premier Leagues Finals Series in devastating fashion as Bayswater trounced the Tasmanians 6-0 at Frank Drago Reserve to book a spot in the Grand Final.
It was a breathtaking victory from Chris Coyne’s side with former Huddersfield Town forward David Heagney netting a hat-trick, Borbor Sam scoring a brace and Gustavo Giron Marulanda also on the scoresheet in a six goal rout.
"The difference in class was huge and it was a big eye opener for a lot of our younger players, to play against players of that quality," McNeill said.
"They were very fit, continued to run through the whole 90 minutes, at times our boys looked dead on their feet with the heat."
It was a sour end to a tremendous season for the Tasmanian Champions but the Warriors boss wasn't making excuses, instead grateful for the opportunity and the learning experience for his young side.
"They were a really well drilled, a seasoned team, I'm thankful actually that we got the opportunity to play a team like that because they were outstanding.
"It sets a new bar, it shows our playing group where you can go in terms of our game. The quality that they had, the skill level and the conditioning is something I hadn't seen before. It is certainly something for us to aspire to in terms of us as coaches, as well as the players."
Bayswater City are undefeated in their local NPL and in the NPL Finals Series in 2015, after being on the wrong end of their latest win, McNeill will be surprised if Blacktown City is able to stand in their way come Saturday.
"We played South Melbourne the week before and I think we were competitive with them. They were certainly a class above South Melbourne," said McNeill.
"We've come a long way but I am tipping them to win the NPL, I think they are at a different level to most Semi-Professional teams in the country," he added.
The loss draws a close to the Victory League Champions' season, a historic season that saw them break a title drought spanning almost two decades. Their championship coach is already going to work on strengthening the squad for a 2016 title defence.
"We will have a number of players leave next year for different reasons, the process begins we start calling, we start contacting and starting talking to people and putting ourselves in the market place."
The hunter will become the hunted in 2016, with rival clubs likely to target their players and the number one mantle. Despite the target on their back, McNeill has faith in the club's culture and is confident he can keep the nucleus of his title winning side together, for another crack at it next season.
"I think most clubs will be having a look at our squad, I mean we won the championship so I think you'd be silly not to but we have an environment that is attractive for players to stay."