North Queensland Toyota Cowboys feeder club The Townsville Blackhawks have advanced to the Hastings Deering Colts grand final after a thrilling 26-22 victory over the Northern Pride at Jack Manski Oval on Saturday.
After finishing the regular season as minor premiers, the Blackhawks were upset by the Norths Devils in their first finals match, but now receive a chance at retribution after the comeback victory over fellow Cowboys feeder club the Pride.
The Blackhawks overcame a 22-10 halftime deficit to storm back and claim a four-point victory in front of their home crowd.
"The Pride started the game really strongly and we struggled to go with them at the start, we didn't have a whole lot of ball," Blackhawks coach and incoming Cowboys assistant coach David Tangata-Toa said.
"I spoke to them at halftime and said to them if we can get our hands on the ball and defend a bit better than what we've been doing, we'd get the result that we wanted."
The Blackhawks received significant contributions from all of their six Cowboys-contracted youngsters.
Forward Ben Condon was immense from the interchange, running for a team-high 192 metres from 21 carries in just 50 minutes.
Prop Logan Bayliss also topped the 100 metre mark, while his front-row partner Jayden Stephen chipped in 77 metres and 14 tackles.
Hooker Sean Mullany made a team-high 23 tackles, halfback Adam Cook booted three goals and second rower Nathan Barrett made 14 tackles.
The Blackhawks will travel to Brisbane on Sunday to battle the Devils on the hallowed Suncorp Stadium turf from 1pm.
