Brothers were desperately close to taking out the West Wyalong Knockout for the first time in over a decade.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Wagga side just fell short after going down to Goulburn 12-6 after extra-time on Saturday.
The teams were locked at 6-all after regulation before the Bulldogs pounced on a mistake by Cade Price under the high ball to take the title.
However coach Peter Little was still thrilled with his side's performance across the weekend.
"We are disappointed to get that far but they are a great side Goulburn and have a lot of guys with bit experience in the NRL," Little said
"The boys are very disappointed but I think that is good as it shows we wanted to win.
"Hopefully the club is proud of our efforts and I'm very happy.
"We were in the game for the whole game and we made those guys pretty nervous so it was a great weekend."
Goulburn had plenty of ball in the first half but struggled to make an impact on the scoreboard.
They led 6-0 at the break after Nick Whatman opened the scoring after 10 minutes only for Brothers to level things when Keifer Power pounced on a bouncing kick from Dylan McLachlan in the second half.
The Bulldogs line up featured plenty of NRL experience but they struggled to get through the desperate Brothers defence.
It was one thing that pleased Little.
"We've got something to build on but I thought we defended really well," he said.
"In the grand final they scored two but for the whole weekend we 12 points scored on us for the weekend."
However they finally cracked in two minutes into the second period of extra time when James Aubusson stretched over the line to score.
It denied the Wagga club their first West Wyalong Knockout title since 2008.
It hasn't been a happy hunting ground for the Wagga club in recent history but Little hopes it can kick start their Group Nine season after making the preliminary final last year.
Brothers also weren't helped by losing Aaron Wynne in their 14-0 semi-final win over Darlington Point Coleambally.
Wynne sat out the final after being caught in a head high tackle from Robbie Simpson.
The Roosters forward was sent off because of the hit and Brothers wanted to take cautious approach.
Little also didn't play for most of the final due to the re-occurrence of a hand injury.
Despite having it on ice for the entire second half, he came on late when McLachlan started to cramp.
He hopes it isn't a serious problem.
READ MORE
