Queanbeyan Tigers won against Belconnen Magpies in preliminary final

Before Saturday, the two had shared the honours this season but it mattered little when the Tigers eventually emerged victorious by two points in the preliminary final, sending the Magpies out of the AFL Canberra finals in straight-sets.

Tigers coach Kade Klemke rightly predicted a tough and physical encounter.

A four-goal opening term to the Tigers built a comfortable gap between the two sides in greasy conditions at Manuka Oval.

From there a four-goal buffer remained for most of the error-filled match until the Magpies found another gear late in the third quarter.

They were spurred on by a small but vocal crowd which saw them get within 15 points at the last break and their momentum continued into the last quarter where they kicked the first three goals to take the lead.

Suddenly Belconnen had superior skills with the slippery ball, regularly finding space in their forward half on the back of fast ball movement. The two went goal-for-goal and the previously error-riddled game burst into an exciting open game full of energy and courage.

But Queanbeyan wrestled back the lead and will go through and play Ainslie Tricolours in the grand final next week where they hope to repeat their heroics of last year and upset the overwhelming favourites. Klemke said he was relieved to survive a heart-stopping finish.

"We've had a great rivalry with Belconnen but it's always good to be on the winning end,” he said.

He said the game started sloppy, but in the last quarter the Belconnen Magpies “made it look easy”.

“We just kept fumbling and missing tackles, which really got them in the game.

"It's wet weather footy. We were really happy with that first half, but you have got to play four quarters and it was disappointing that we got to that stage where we just snuck through. But I'll take it,” Klemke said.

"To Belconnen's credit they kept coming at us and kept nipping away, and we're going to have to put up a much better performance if we're going to beat Ainslie next week."

The teams came together again on Sunday for the annual gala presentation night. 

Tigers chairman Ron Fowlie was inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Klemke was awarded AFL Canberra men’s coach of the year. 

Five young Queanbeyan players were selected in the honorary Future Stars team of the year.