"We aimed to knock off a top two team before finals and we're happy and excited to get the win, but there's still a long way to go," he said.

"The guys are improving every week, but I've always had the belief that we could be up there.

"We've been training hard and playing some good footy, but finals footy is completely different to the regular rounds."

Queanbeyan were attacking early and were ahead by 12 points at the first break, putting the foot on the throttle to take it out to a 44-point lead at halftime.

The return of Tigers' captain Andrew Swan was much anticipated and the big man didn't disappoint, leading a powerhouse defensive line with Klemke, Alec McCormick and Jack O'Halloran- only conceding a single goal up until the third term.

"It was great to have [Swan] back, he slotted in perfectly. We started him down back to get his confidence back, but we might keep him back there," Klemke said.

"Grocott was our best player by far- he's only 19 and we forget that- he's going to have a bright future ahead of him.

"We're such a versatile side and we have a lot of players who can play a number of positions. I don't want us to be predictable."

It seemed as if the home side had the game already won in the third, skills were slightly lower and the scoreboard pressure was lifted as the Hawks got back to within six-goals at three-quarter-time and the home crowd were worried at the thought of a comeback.

But four-goal hauls to Matt Grocott and Paul Williams and slick ball-handling and forward 50 penetration from Mitch Price and Alex Page kicked the Tigers to a win and equal second spot, only behind Tuggeranong on percentage.

Accuracy from Queanbeyan stepped up a notch from weeks prior, but workrate and pressure from the Tigers were praised by Klemke.

"Our aim for the game was to increase our workrate and pressure, we caused a lot of turnovers and worked hard to find space," he said.

"Our midfield were on top of them and they struggled to contain our forward line.

"But things can change, they may have had a bad day. They had a few players out and we have close to a full list."

Klemke said the Tigers will be looking to address the third-quarter lull when they face off against top-placed Belconnen on Saturday, August 8.

"Belconnen are similar to Tuggeranong, if you let them loose they're good at using the ball and they're dangerous with [Chris] York up forward," he said.

"So we'll be working on one-on-one contests, controlling the middle, using the corridor and make them go wide.

"Our skills at times let us down [against Tuggeranong] and we rushed our kicks a bit in the third, but this weekend was pretty close to how we'd like to be come finals."