There are no taller poppies in the Sunshine Coast football codes than the Noosa Pirates rugby league side and the Noosa Dolphins rugby team.

Both have a proven ability to challenge for their respective premiership year after year and with that comes a fair degree of envy from rival clubs and their supporters.

Yesterday afternoon both of them were there to be cut down.

The Pirates, who hadn’t lost a game all year, trailed the Nambour Crushers in the first half and were only marginally ahead midway through the second half.

They ended up pulling away for a 40-22 win to qualify for yet another grand final.

But the biggest drama yesterday was played out at Dolphin Oval where the Dolphins were trying to maintain their streak of playing in every Sunshine Coast A-grade grand final since 1987.

They’re mighty proud of that record. So proud, they even had T-shirts made that have “grand finalists 1987-2006” written in large letters on the back.

That would seem cocky to some but, then again, if any other Sunshine Coast club had that sort of history, they’d be keen to spruik about it too.

Yesterday, the Dolphins fielded a side based largely on youth rather than the established names that hung around making grand finals, and winning titles, year after year.

Noosa coach Mick Phelan says no-one has placed any expectations on this new-look side that they have to keep the streak going.

Still, they managed to come from behind to beat their great rivals Maroochydore in the knockout semi-final – the first time the two clubs had played a sudden-death game at this stage of the finals.

Next up is Nambour, a club with a different type of history – coming close but never getting to hold the premiership trophy.

On how this season has gone, it should be a Toads win, but it would be a brave person who would ever tip against any Noosa side, rugby or league, come finals time.