The Hay Magpies have all but sealed a place in the Group 20 finals for the first time since 2016 following their come-from-behind 22-20 win over the Griffith Waratah Tigers at the Exies Oval on Saturday.

Trailing 16-0 at half time after an Isaiah Nauer hat-trick, the Magpies clawed back the deficit in the second stanza to secure a remarkable win over the Tigers, who have fallen to three straight losses after an 11-game undefeated start to the year. 

Hay coach Chris Stewart said that despite trailing by three scores against one of the competition heavyweights, his side remained remarkably calm at half time.

“We were down 16 nil at half time, but we ran into a really strong breeze, so I wasn't too concerned at half time, knowing that we'd obviously have that breeze at our back for the second half,” he said.

“We clawed one back to make it 16-6, and then we got a second one, and made it 16-12.”

However, their comeback took a turn when they were reduced to 12 men after Jeremaia Nakete was sent from the field by the referee for a cannonball tackle.

“Tahs scored one to make it 20-12, and then that's when the mayhem sort of started to unfold,” Stewart said.

“We had big Jerry sent off for a cannonball tackle, which looked a lot worse than what it probably was. 

“I think just because he's such a big guy and sort of diving in to wrap the legs up to complete the tackle it looked bad.  

“Then Waratahs had a bloke sent off for a spear tackle, which had us at 12 on 12 for the last 10 minutes.”

However, when Kynan Headon crashed over to score for the Magpies, the belief grew even stronger, before Shaun Aylett crossed for the matchwinner in the dying stages to seal an unbelievable victory.

“We broke through to score one try, and big Shaun Aylett crashed over with three minutes to go, Ben Taylor converted, and we hung on from there,” he said.

“It was a frantic finish, but yeah, it was a really good win for the boys.”

The first grade side’s win capped a great day for the Hay club, who took out the Reserve Grade and League Tag games earlier in the day to sweep the traditional powerhouse Waratahs on their home ground for the first time.

However, what made the wins even more incredible was the “chaotic” 24 hours the Magpies had leading into the game according to their coach.

“We had a bit of a disruptive night on Friday,” Stewart said. 

“We had sort of a light run before the game, and we were looking like being at full strength for the first time all year, [but] then we came out of training with a couple of knocks, to Hugh Crichton and Brad Pocock, so they both missed the game. 

“Then we had a couple go down in reserve grade that we're going to back up, so it was a bit of a disrupted preparation.”

After a period of adversity through the middle of the year, the Magpies have had a renaissance of sorts in the back end of the regular season to sew up a likely finals berth, a turnaround that Stewart said started with some tough conversations.

“We sat down and had a really good chat at the halfway point of the year, after we lost to Darlington Point the second time,” he said.

“We had a look and we haven't lost a game by any more than 10 points all year, but we just kept losing those close games, and we realised that it all came down to our discipline. 

“We'd been losing those games by 10 or less and giving away double the amount of penalties as the opposition, that was really killing us. 

“So we worked really hard on trying to clean up our discipline because we knew if we could come out of games with an even penalty count or close to, we were pretty confident we could win a lot of those close games. 

“We've really gotten on top of that the last few weeks and it showed with our results.” 

As for what a potential home final would mean to the community, Stewart said it would be an “unreal” occasion.

“We always draw a big crowd no matter how we're going, but the crowds this year have been really big,” he said.

“Even when we played the Point at the start of the year, there were people struggling to get a car spot to come and watch us and that was just for round one. 

“They're really behind us and they really are looking forward to it and they deserve it.

“We're on the outside a bit [in town], a small fish in the big pond essentially in Group 20, but it's good to have a bit of success for them, and having a team full of local blokes that have come back has made a big difference to that as well.”

Looking at other results across round 16, the Leeton Greenies continued their winning streak against local rivals Yanco-Wamoon with a 32-16 win at the Leeton No.1 Oval on Saturday.

Winger Jesse Watson scored another try double as the Greenies ran in six four-pointers to the Hawks three to move five points clear of Yanco and Hay in third position.

The loss meanwhile leaves Yanco potentially needing to win against both top two sides in DPC and Waratahs to maintain their spot in the five.

Tullibigeal-Lakes United exacted revenge on West Wyalong for their derby win earlier this season, powering their way to a 72-10 win at Tullibigeal on Sunday.

The subject of a feature article in the Spectator two weeks ago, five-eighth Jaden Kelly starred for the Sharks with a five-try haul, while centre Bryce Fisher scored four of his own in the 13 tries to two domination.

Finally, Griffith Black and Whites bagged a crucial two points with a 30-18 victory in their showdown with Yenda at Solar Mad Stadium on Sunday.

The win sees the Griffith club move to 16 points, two ahead of Yenda and one behind both Hay and fifth-placed Yanco-Wamoon with two rounds to play.