With a place already secured in the Premier League for next season, Hawkesbury slumped to an unexpected 13-10 loss last week against eighth placed Geelong, whilst Canberra spanked the second placed Harlequins to keep their promotion dream alive. With Hawkesbury going into this match as underdogs, fans and officials have questioned the validity of the minor premiers competing in the finals when they have nothing to play for but pride.

Canberra Chargers Hawkesbury Mavericks
1 Ben Hornby © 1 Steve Turner
2 Reece Simmonds 2 Matthew Rieck
3 Paul Whatuira 3 Joe Roff
4 Christophe Lamaison 4 Tevita Vaikona
5 Jamie Burrows 5 Jamie Ainscough
6 Brandon Costin 6 Adam Dykes
7 Sean Towers 7 Gordon Ross
8 Troy Stone 8 Bill Young
9 Johnny Lawless 9 Lance Rats
10 Sonny Nickle 10 Adam Woolnough
11 Solomon Haumona 11 Shane Rodney
12 Michael Smith 12 Fa'amanu Asoava
13 Ian Watson 13 Inoke Ratudina ©
++Interchange
14 Danny Galea 14 Ben Ross
15 Chris McKenna 15 Brendan Dean
16 Richard Peleasina 16 Luke Swain
17 Michael Monaghan 17 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen

A tentative start showed that both sides were taking the sudden death final seriously, despite Hawkesbury having nothing to play for beyond the honour of joining Brisbane and Central Coast as the only Division Two sides to claim both a premiership and a minor premiership. Hawkesbury got first points in the match through Gordon Ross, the halfback knocking over a penalty goal to give his side a 2-0 lead.

In the fourteenth minute the Mavericks made a claim for the first try of the match, after what had been an entertaining opening period from both sides. The Mavericks went over from an astute dummy half run from retiring Fijian Inoke Ratudina, but the video referee ruled the compact lock had knocked it on in attempting to pick the ball up- and the play was called back. Despite this minor setback, the Mavericks extended their lead further in the 15th minute, when Gordon Ross again capitalised on Canberra's ill discipline to extend his side's lead to 4-0.

Scores were levelled seven minutes later when Jamie Burrows ran onto a bullet-like Ben Hornby pass to score out wide. Sean Towers' attempted conversion was laughable, but the scores were deadlocked at four all. The Mavericks were again denied a try in the 24th minute, this time when Paul Whatuira managed to bundle Steve Turner into touch before the young fullback could ground the ball. It was another disallowed try in the 27th minute that had Mavericks' coach, Brian Randell, fuming- with an apparently legitimate try to Tevita Vaikona called back after referee Eddie Ward ruled that Vaikona had run behind Jamie Ainscough. It seemed as though all the determination in the world wouldn't be enough for Hawkesbury as long as luck wasn't on their side.

Then 30th minute saw Canberra take the lead for the first time in the match through a Sean Towers' penalty goal, before Ben Hornby's 38th minute try completed what could only be described as a disastrous first half for the Mavericks. Towers' conversion had it at 12-4, and the strong Mavericks' contingent in the crowd made their disdain for referee Glen Black obvious as he left the field.

HALFTIME: Canberra 12 lead Hawkesbury 4

Hawkesbury came back onto the park with a loud and crude halftime spray from Brian Randell spurring them on- but the looks on the players' faces showed that they didn't feel confident. Indeed, prior to the match a number of younger players had been heard to remark 'Who cares? We're guaranteed a spot'. The 'who cares' mentality saw the Mavericks go even further behind in the 49th minute, when Solomon Haumona was allowed to virtually walk to the line after some pathetic defence from the Hawkesbury markers left a yawning hole for the Kiwi. Towers again converted, and the Mavericks were looking ragged, down 18-4.

If God has a sense of fairness, he showed it in the following minutes, with Canberra denied two tries in five minutes through somewhat dubious calls from the video referee. Still, after Hawkesbury were denied three chances at a lead in the first half, it seemed somehow poetic that the video referee would derail Canberra's hopes of racking up a big score. The too and fro continued however, with both sides being denied by the video referee in the leadup to the game's final ten minutes. First it was Joe Roff being ruled to have stepped into touch, and then Michael Smith penalised for taking out a chaser when Jamie Burrows apparently scored his second of the night. Missed opportunities could very well come back to haunt either side, but with Canberra up by fourteen with ten to go, it looked like Hawkesbury would the side ruing missed chances.

The 73rd minute put the result beyond doubt, with Danny Galea scoring his side's fourth try to well and truly end Hawkesbury's hopes of making it to the grand final. Galea has been a revelation for the Chargers in the second half of the season, and although Towers was again unable to convert, the Chargers looked home and hosed as 22-4 leaders.

Ben Ross was able to score a consolation try for his side in the 75th minute, but even Ross' conversion left it as too little, too late. The fulltime siren sounded with Hawkesbury convincingly beaten, and going into Mad Monday ruing lossed chances.

FULLTIME

Canberra Chargers 22
Danny Galea
Jamie Burrows
Ben Hornby
Solomon Haumona
Towers 3/5

defeated

Hawkesbury Mavericks 10
Ben Ross
G. Ross 3/3

PoM Points
Danny Galea................3
Christophe Lamaison.....2
Solomon Haumona........1

Stats
Penalty Count
Canberra Chargers- 5 : 8 -Hawkesbury Mavericks

Possession (%)
Canberra Chargers- 52 : 47 -Hawkesbury Mavericks

Time in Opposition Half
Canberra Chargers- 42 : 38 -Hawkesbury Mavericks

Handling Errors
Canberra Chargers- 9 : 21 -Hawkesbury Mavericks

Completion Rate (%)
Canberra Chargers- 64 : 55 -Hawkesbury Mavericks

Tackles
Canberra Chargers- 201 : 223 -Hawkesbury Mavericks

Poofters your all fired, fired I tells ya!