Stewart scored his first try five minutes from fulltime to bring the Hawks within two points of the Bulls.

The conversion attempt from Blake English to level the scores hit the uprights and it looked like the Hawks would be beaten, but Stewart’s late try, scored in the dark in the north eastern corner of the ground, secured all three points for the home side.

The sides were locked up at 12 a piece at the break, however a Bulls player was injured moments prior to the interval and the game was held up for close to an hour as first an ambulance and then the Westpac helicopter was summonsed to convey the centre to the Royal North Shore hospital for treatment.

The day belonged to Stewart though, and his brace of tries, in the gloom of the early evening, capped an excellent performance from the local team. Stewart, who moved with his family to Forster from Gerringong in 1996, was heavily involved in both defence and attack throughout the game and his kicking game was instrumental in gaining the Hawks some excellent field position.

A very well respected and liked member of the Great Lakes community, Byram had a large contingent of family and friends present to witness the game, and was presented the specially marked number 150 jumper by his father Elliott “Ness” Stewart prior to kick-off.

The Hawks’ backs were fast and dexterous in attack, producing some wonderful forays into Taree’s territory while the forwards were unforgiving in the engine room, stinging the opposition in defence and providing Stewart and his men room to move with the ball.

Captain Matt Kirkland was a welcome return into the front row after a short spell recovering from some niggling injuries and looks to have freshened up in time for the charge to the playoffs.

The Hawks host the Wauchope Blues this coming Saturday,  July 2 nd at Harry Elliott Oval, and there is no reason why they can’t gather some winning momentum as they head towards the business end of the season.