After a strong win against the Northern Jets, the Hawks soared against sixth-placed Charles Sturt University in their final home-and-away game, running away with an 18.15 (123) to 6.5 (41) win.

Now, they just need a finals series to play in, with the post-season thrown up in the air by Saturday's statewide lockdown. If it's a five-team finals, they'll play The Rock-Yerong Creek in the qualifying final.

"It's hard to prepare when you don't know what you're preparing for," EWK coach Matt Hard said.

"But we're excited for what's ahead, whatever it is."

Hard couldn't have been happier about the way the Hawks played, declaring it one of their best efforts of the season after they got right on top in the second term and finished off strongly in the last.

It was a third straight win, and EWK's 10^th in their last 11 games, and built on the consistency they'd been searching for.

"We were a lot better at that and I was very happy with the way we performed over four quarters," Hard said.

"I thought our pressure around the ball was really good and we played the game out pretty well."

The other worry has been their conversion rate but it was vastly improved, for the most part.

The Hawks kicked eight behinds in the last term on Saturday but still finished with more goals than points for the third straight week, and only the fourth time all season.

Leading that charge was Brocke Argus, who booted eight goals and whose combination with Ben Cadzow was remarkable.

"It was Brocke's best game in the time I've been at East Wagga, I thought. He was outstanding," Hard said.

"He led up really well. He and Ben Cadzow worked extremely well together. He put himself in good positions and was clean with his marking."

The midfield helped, again led by Harry Fitzsimmons - who also kicked two goals - as well as Jeremy Piercy and Kade Rowbotham.

The Hawks went from nine points up at quarter-time to 45 points clear at half-time before CSU rallied and stemmed the bleeding in the third term. But they couldn't stop the game getting away from them in the last.

Ben Browning was superb for the Bushpigs, Wayde Archibald was heavily involved and Lachie Moore dangerous as he has been every week. They finished their season three wins outside the five, with a 6-and-10 record, but three wins clear of three teams below them.

EWK finished two wins behind minor premiers Marrar and now go into a holding pattern, along with the other finalists.

"The way I treat it was to congratulate the players on finishing second - we ended the home-and-away season in a good position and full credit to them," Hard said.

"We sat down and had a beer together and we'll be in touch with them in the next few days...

"We know we're building... we're champing at the bit to play finals. We've had a good year, we're in the top three which is what we aimed to do, and we'll look after ourselves to go in in the best condition we can."

The Hawks still hope to have Nick Hull (back) and Jarrad Boumann (hamstring) back for finals but Hard said Boumann would be touch and go this week. Nic Curran (illness) also missed Saturday but they didn't pick up any new injuries.

Full-time:

EWK 3.3, 9.5, 13.7, 18.15 (123)

CSU 2.0, 2.2, 5.3, 6.5 (41)

Goals: (EWK) Brocke Argus 8, Benjamin Cadzow 4, Harry Fitzsimmons 2, Alexander Rogers 1, Kade Rowbotham 1, Jeremy Piercy 1, Daniel McCARTHY 1; (CSU) Harry Wakefield 2, Jacob Collingridge 1, Andrew Dickins 1, Benjamin Browning 1, Harry Turner 1.

Best: (EWK) Brocke Argus, Benjamin Cadzow, Jeremy Piercy, Kade Rowbotham, Max Tiernan, Ben Absolum; (CSU) Benjamin Browning, Harry Turner, Wayde Archibald, Jacob Bell, Adam Mckelvie , Ryan Findlay.

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