“That was our goal if we didn’t win the Caldwell Cup,” Kookaburras co-coach Hunter Harley said.

They secured their place with a 25-11 win over Central Coast on Sunday, having gone down to Newcastle Hunter 33-18 in their semi-final on Saturday.

Harley said they showed a lot of character in the loss to the Wildfires.

“We scrapped and scrounged,” he said.

It was always going to be a big ask but for a while the dream was well and truly alive.

They had a lot of the early pressure and territory and missed an early shot at goal before, midway through the first half, outside centre Soni Halanokonuka burst through the line. But he just couldn’t link up with the support.

It was little moments like that that showed what the Kookaburras were capable of but they too often cruelled themselves with turnovers.

That was one of Harley and Tom Cullen’s main messages to them at half-time – cut the mistakes down.

They trailed 5-3 at the break after conceding a try right on half-time.

They couldn’t have started the second half in a worse manner, making a mess of the kick-off.

It didn’t cost them immediately but handed Newcastle good territory and, a couple of minutes later, winger Billy Coffey caught the Kookaburras undermanned on the right.

Simon Newton clawed back three a few minutes later and, when Tom Lynch ran onto a smart chip over the ruck for him from skipper Matt Schwager, the Kookaburras were back within one, with the kick to come.

But it went to the right.

Newcastle hit back from the kick-off and took control from there, the Kookaburras seeing little territory and possession until Newton sent a long cut-out to Lynch out on his own on the left in the final couple of minutes.

“I think at the end of the day what happened, they played at such a speed and intensity that we’re not used to,” Harley said.

The fatigue of trying to compete with that just got them.

“We made a few mistakes and missed a few tackles but that 40 minutes while we still had gas in the tank, as far as the contest goes, at times we were on top,” he said.

He said one of the things the Wildfires did well was shift the ball wide off first phase.

It was something they weren’t really accustomed to, and they couldn’t slow the play down.

They also had to contend with a growing injury toll.

The front row was particularly hit hard, with Sam Martin going off with a torn calf muscle midway through the first half and Josh Leys also spending time off with injury.

They had to call in front row reinforcements for Sunday, with Walcha’s Ross Fletcher making the trip across.

“We had a terrible run with injuries,” Harley said.

They had no Matt McDonnell or Matt Wannan for Sunday.

Wannan was one of their best against the Wildfires.

Simon Newton was also outstanding both days and Schwager his “consistent good self”, while Joe deDassel, Fletcher and Jack Maunder were brilliant on Sunday.

Maunder is one of the young guns coming through.

“We saw the future of the zone in Will (Robinson), Jack (Maunder), Henri (Knight) and Jake (Packer),” Harley said.

“The big thing is trying to keep them together.”