A Brocke Argus miss after the siren ensured The Rock-Yerong Creek downed East Wagga-Kooringal by one point

In a dramatic finish, Argus marked 45 metres out close to the boundary line, with the Hawks trailing by two points.

The final siren sounded as Argus made his way in to kick and he pushed the shot to the right, as the Hawks' comeback fell one point short.

The win moved TRYC into second spot as the Magpies highlighted their premiership credentials with the 6.17 (53) to 7.10 (52) victory at Victoria Park.

After a goal after the siren resorted the Magpies to a draw against North Wagga earlier in the year, co-coach Heath Russell admitted he could hardly look as Argus took his shot to win the game.

"I thought here we go again," Russell said.

"We battled, we only had 18 for a lot of that last quarter, so we were down and it just felt like everything was going against us but the boys cracked in.

"East Wagga, full credit to them, they applied the pressure but to be honest, I couldn't watch."

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TRYC led for all but about one minute of the game and only some bad misses in front of goal prevented them from putting the game away earlier.

They kicked 4.7 with the breeze in the opening term to lead by 23 points, before the Hawks worked their way back to close the margin to 11 at half-time.

Despite being down to just one man on the bench for the second half, the Magpies were able to control most of the third quarter but missed some howlers in front of goal to keep the door ajar for the Hawks, kicking 2.7 for the term to lead by 21 points.

EWK pressed strongly and kicked the only three goals, all from free kicks, for the final term but ultimately fell one point short.

While relieved, Russell thought it was a deserved win.

"We'll take it. We gave ourselves a chance to lose it, to be honest," he said.

"If I'm being honest, I thought we were the better team all day and if you look at the scoring shots, we probably just didn't take advantage.

"We've done that consistently through the year where we just don't put sides away and we've lost the games so to respond and get the four points is good for the boys' confidence, especially against another finals contender."

While the win puts the Magpies into second, they still face an important showdown with North Wagga that will have a big bearing on who makes up the top three.

Russell was happy to get another win over a premiership rival.

"We felt we probably let one slip at their home ground in the first round and we made a point that we owed a few sides on the way back where we lost a couple," he said.

"The three sides that knocked us off in the first round, Barellan, Temora, and East Wagga, we've beaten the second time around and that was an emphasis for us as a group.

"We obviously learnt a lesson from Marrar, you learn from losses and hopefully we're starting to put that into place a bit because that felt like a game we have lost this year but for the boys to show a bit of maturity and a bit of grit was a positive."

TRYC were best served by midfielders Riley Budd and Joey Hancock, who were instrumental in the win, while Liam Lupton confirmed his value to the Magpies with a strong return from injury across half-back.

They did pick up a couple of injuries with Tom Collins breaking a rib, while James Roberts played no further part after half-time as he battled a calf injury.

Scott Wolter was also yellow carded and reported for a sling tackle on EWK's Ryan Bourne in the final term.

Jarrad Boumann made a strong return for the Hawks, kicking the first goal inside the opening minute, and while he finished with just two goals, he was a constant threat throughout.

Full-time

TRYC Magpies 4.7 4.9 6.16 6.17 (53)

EWK Hawks 1.2 3.4 4.7 7.10 (52)

GOALS: TRYC Magpies: S.Williams 1, J.Cool 1, J.Roberts 1, W.Adams 1, D.Pieper 1, D.Biermann 1; EWK Hawks: B.Argus 2, J.Boumann 2, R.Bourne 2, D.McCarthy 1

BEST: TRYC Magpies: J.Hancock, R.Budd, L.Lupton, C.Cool, N.Budd, J.Prestage; EWK Hawks: R.Bourne, H.Fitzsimmons, K.Argus, D.McCarthy, N.Curran, J.Cooper

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