Before taking on reigning Group 11 premiers Wellington Cowboys in the final and ultimately going down 16-4, Hawks and their rivals huddled together in the centre of Jack Arrow Oval.

They linked arms and along with the crowd, shared a minute of silence to honour the memory of late Hawks player Mason Pollack.

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The Hawks players, who included Mason's brother Marlin, then put everything into beating Cowboys.

"The whole day built and we were just happy to be there in that last game, to be involved in it," Heta said.

"We know we've got a lot of young fellas there with a lot of promise and a lot to play for, so you can see the passion coming through the club after our tragic loss.

"Look this helped to get their minds away from it, and they enjoyed playing with some of the senior players.

"We used that as motivation, we had our black arm bands on there and it's exciting for his brother to be a part of this as well."

Having gone down to the Cowboys 18-8 in their pool game, Hawks stepped things up in the finale.

They ran hard - in particular forward Ethan McKeller - and put sting in their tackles, but Heta admitted the size of the Cowboys was telling.

"Look we didn't bring the biggest side so we knew we were going to be mobile, but I think that was the difference in the end," he said.

"Wellington just had big bodies, they ran hard, they had players in the right positions who had the smarts and they deserved their win, they went undefeated.

"But two losses for us today, that's not bad either. It was a great way to start the year for us."