The Hay Magpies produced the second major upset of the weekend in Group 20 after a 26-12 win over the Yanco-Wamoon Hawks at the Yanco Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon.

The Magpies’ first victory of the season on the road came just a day after the Griffith Black and Whites shocked defending premiers DPC Roosters 40-16 in the Grand Final rematch at Coleambally.

The Hawks took a narrow 6-4 lead into the sheds at half time after a bruising first half dominated by defence.

Out of the break however, it was all Hay, with the Magpies scoring four tries through Ben Arandt, Anare Malanicagi, Kynan Headon and Ben Taylor to extend their lead to 26-6.

A late consolation try to the Hawks improved the scoreline, but it was Hay’s day, with the Magpies recording an impressive away victory to kick-start their campaign.

Hay Magpies Coach Chris Stewart said it was a massive confidence boost for the club to record an away win so early in the campaign, something that the club has struggled to do in recent seasons.

“We feel like we really should have won against the Point in that game, but we let that one slip and we definitely came with a point to prove yesterday,” he said.

“Yanco are a good side, which was a good challenge for us, and in the first half it was pretty hot and we dropped a lot of footy.

“In the second half, we just spoke about starting strong and completing our sets, and getting in the grind.

“It’s the first time we’ve had an away win, the boys said in three years, so it’s a good start.”

Stewart said that despite going in behind at half time, the Magpies always backed themselves to get the job done, with the side’s fitness key to their belief.

“In the first half when we were behind, we weren’t too concerned, because we backed ourselves over the distance of the game,” he said.

“We’ve had a really tough preseason, so we felt like the longer the game [went] on, the deeper into the game [and] the better we’d be.

“They did take the lead in the halftime, [but] we were always confident that we were going to come home strong, so it was just a matter of starting fast in the second half and finishing it from there.”

In previous years, close games have not been the Magpies’ friend, something Stewart is acutely aware of given the potential finals implications later in the season.

“We spoke about that, Yanco and the Black and Whites [are the sides] we’ll be fighting for a spot in the finals,” he said.

“It’s very important especially to get those wins away against those sides.

“Confidence wise also, we’ve been a team that’s lost for a long time, so whenever a game gets close, we find a way to lose, because losing is a habit, but we really went out and actually won that game and iced that game yesterday.

“So I think that’s a big thing for the boys, learning how to close games out and win games, and we did that on the weekend.”

When asked who performed the best for the side on the day, Stewart singled out three of the Magpies’ returning sons, though he was full of praise for the entire squad’s performances.

“For us, Benny Arandt was awesome in his first game back, he had 25 hit-ups and played the full 80 minutes at lock,” he said.

“He tore his calf [over the off-season], and unfortunately we didn’t get to see him all pre-season, but he was awesome.

“Will Barnes was good, he’s been good for us all year so far, and Harley Hey was another one.

“I couldn’t really fault anyone, everyone did their job, everyone played really well, [but] they were the three standouts.”

The next challenge for the Magpies is converting this week’s win into consecutive victories, something that they also couldn’t do last season, in a showdown with the Tullibigeal-Lakes United Sharks, another side Stewart is wary of given their talented roster.

“Lakes are a really tough side, they’re a side that we definitely would never go into [a game] writing off,” he said.

“Any team with Jaden Kelly and is going to be a handful, he’s still the best half in the competition.

“So it’s definitely going to be tough, they’re a tough team.”

The Magpies’ clash with TLU kicks off at 2:30pm on Sunday at the Hay Park Oval.