The Hawks went into the game much the underdog. They also ran into a red hot Breakers outfit that ranks among the best teams to play in Group Three for a decade.

Forster opened up strongly enough and when promising winger Josh Neave did well to score the first try of the game then five-eighth Daniel Benson landed a towering conversion, there were hopes the Hawks may be able to produce an upset.

However, there was precious little for Forster supporters to cheer for after that. By halftime the score was 22-6 to the Breakers and they never looked like losing from there.

This mounted to 40-6 late in the game when the Hawks finished with two tries to Des Donnelly and Gary Bishop.

Barclay wasn’t looking for excuses at fulltime. However, he did note that his side has battled a lengthy injury tally this year. So-much-so that Barclay was forced to use 40 players in first grade.

Barclay pointed out that the Hawks lost some quality footballers over the course of the season.

“Matt Finlayson, PJ Taylor at the start of the year, Tyrone Kelly, we’ve had some injury problems,’’ he noted after the game.

“So it’s a wonderful effort for them to make it here. They should be proud of themselves.”

Barclay had no complaint with his side’s effort. Nor was he making excuses. He conceded the Hawks dropped away from their game plan.

“We started off good – scored the first try, but then we gave them a lot of pill,’’ he said.

“We piggy backed them a lot on the fourth tackle with penalties. They were all warranted, too. In the end they just wore us out. We let them get too much field position.”

Still, he said the Hawks showed plenty of pride to score a couple of late tries.

“That showed they’re worthy contenders.”

He congratulated Port on their effort.

“They came through undefeated. Good on them, that’s a great performance. (Port coach) Ben Sprague is a good bloke and he deserves this.’’

The Hawks have also unearthed some promising young players and if they club is able to keep them, they’ll be better for this season’s experiences.

Winger Neave, five-eighth Benson and prop Jared Wynter are all in their first full season of first grade. Wynter was probably Forster’s best on grand final day.

The affable Barlay was for once a bit lost for words when asked if he intended to coach again next year.

“You know better than to ask that,” he laughed.

“I dunno yet. I’ll think about it.”

- Mick McDonald