EAST Wagga Kooringal's hard work developing their young team eventually paid off after they prevailed in a tense clash with Marrar at Gumly Oval on Saturday afternoon.
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With the Bombers looking to cap stalwart Tara Taylor's 250th game in the red and black dress in style, the Hawks spoiled the party with a 37-32 victory.
It was only EWK's second win of the year after they lost a host of first grade regulars from last season. '
The loss could be a costly one for Marrar, who had a chance to draw level with Northern Jets in fifth in the race for finals spots.
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Hawks coach Rhiannon Daley, who took over the first grade job this year, said the win was reward for effort.
"It's not been an easy year this year at all. We only had four first graders come back this year so we had to bring girls up," she said.
"I've been really hard on them at training so it was good to see it pay off, we've worked really hard.
"We were very happy girls after it."
The Hawks were beaten 43-25 by Marrar in the opening round, which highlights the improvement they've enjoyed.
"We've gone game for game the last few years and they beat us by a fair bit in the first round this year," Daley said.
"We went into the match with a lot of hunger. In the first game we had a lot of girls out, but we had our full team on the weekend which obviously made a pretty big difference.
"It was basically goal for goal. There was never a moment where we could let up and it's always a good competition with Marrar.
"We've got two really young girls (Molly Hulm and Holly Nelson) and they kept their cool, I was really proud of them.
"We haven't had the greatest year accuracy-wise, but our shooters (Emma Inglis, Brydie Kean and Hayley Price) all shot amazing on the weekend which made a huge difference."
The Hawks face a tough task over their next two games, against top two outfits Temora and North Wagga.
In other matches on Saturday the Saints were too strong for Northern Jets 71-27, Charles Sturt University accounted for Coleambally 73-53 and Barellan prevailed 76-16 over The Rock Yerong Creek.
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