Inverell Hawks coach Brad Field believes his side can beat reigning premiers, the Narwan Eels, to lift the 2023 Group 19 men's premiership trophy.
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The Hawks earned the right to take on Narwan after they toppled minor premiers, the Guyra Super Spuds, in another high-scoring affair in Sunday's preliminary final.
The final score was 36-28 and Field applauded their early attack.
"I thought our attack, especially our right edge at the start, was really good," he said,
"In the second-half we didn't have too much ball but our defence kept turning up for one another."
It took them two minutes to post the first points when winger Harold Duncan scored in the corned.
Inverell captain Alex Hull made no mistake with the sideline conversion to give his side the 6-nil advantage.
Then Duncan's opposing winger, Dylan Sutton, hit back for the Super Spuds with a try of his own.
But then the Hawks again exposed Guyra's poor left-edge defence for Duncan to bust through before finding Jovan Moore in support to get back in front on the scoreboard.
Defence wasn't a priority for either side as a fourth try was scored.
This time it was Guyra captain-coach Jayden French.
Then the Hawks went back-to-back with tries to Josh Boyd and Ethan Anderson.
The news didn't get any better for the Spuds with boom youngster Billy Youman carted from the field with a serious knee injury.
His side did lift though with Jayden French claiming his second.
The half-time score was 22-18 in favour of the Hawks.
Anderson bagged his second try two minutes into the second stanza and then Boyd was over again a minute later.
The Hawks were next to score but then as quickly as the points came earlier in the game, they dried up.
There were no more points scored for a 25-minute period until Corey Torrens went over for the Spuds.
Sutton managed a second but they ran out of time with the Hawks taking the win.
Their celebrations, however, didn't last long with the focus turning to next Sunday's decider at Armidale's Bellevue Oval.
The Hawks will face a Narwan side fresh from the weekend off and full of confidence.
But Field is confident in his side.
"We are a pretty tight-knit group this group and I think we can go the whole way," he said.
"I am confident in our boys.
"I believe we have got what it takes to take it out."
Field said the group has come together this season and the sense of camaraderie is strong.
"It means a lot to the club, to the boys, to all the families," he said.
"We will get a decent crowd down there in Armidale next week for the grand final."