Fairytale finish for Bushpies in Katrina Fanning Shield final

Samara Afele clutched the Katrina Fanning Shield to her chest in awe of what the Bushpies had achieved in a matter of weeks.

Having faced the prospect of sitting out the season due to dwindling numbers amid a global pandemic, Afele's Yass Mapgies and Tuggeranong Bushrangers joined forces in July to field a team.

And now, the joint-venture club has won its maiden - and only - title.

A double to Alfele lifted the Bushpies to a 22-12 win over the Queanbeyan Blues in the Katrina Fanning Shield decider at Queanbeyan's Seiffert Oval on Sunday.

It's marks the final chapter of a fairytale season that saw them string together an unlikely group of players from across the region and different football codes.

"It's actually amazing because 10 weeks ago we got together and it was more about playing footy and having some fun," Afele said.

"When we played our first game together we knew we had a shot, but it's amazing to have gone this far and won."

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But the fairytale end to the season was also bittersweet, with the two teams likely to go their separate ways again next year.

Yass's Greg Smith was disappointed to see the joint-venture club come to an end, saying he'd loved every minute as the team's coach.

"[Winning] is the best feeling ever because we started so late. We only had two training sessions before the competition. We built from there and the girls have been so fantastic," Smith said.

"It's going to be disappointing to finish because now we've got a close unit. Next year we go our separate ways. It's been such ... I've just loved every minute of it. I'm so excited."

Player of the match Afele scored two tries in five minutes to start a Bushpies onslaught, with the visitors surging to a 16-4 lead at half-time.

The second-rower ran straight over the Blues' defence from a scrum set-piece to break the deadlock in the 12th minute, before shrugging off three defenders on the right edge en route to her double.

Former Brumby Samantha Wood dived over from dummy-half to open Queanbeyan's account but missed the conversion.

Their celebrations were cut short when Emi Masi stepped past three defenders to score on the left edge, following a Blues knock-on.

Jenna Cooke dived over from dummy-half to extend the Bushpies' lead to 16 points minutes after the break, but that's where their charge stalled.

Late tries to Alanna Brooks and Jacinta Williams narrowed the margin to 10 but Queanbeyan ran out of time to claim a comeback victory.

"It was still stressful in the last minutes because they were coming back. You're never confident because we've already been done twice by Queanbeyan before. Hats off to them," Smith said.

"We've always been a good defensive side but we've never been enough in front. The bigger lead you have, you can rely on your defence to get you through."

Earlier in women's league tag final, Queanbeyan scored twice in the last seven minutes to beat the Gungahlin Bulls 18-14.

AT A GLANCE

Katrina Fanning Shield final: BUSHPIES 22 (Afele 2, Masi, Cooke tries; Blowes 3 goals) bt QUEANBEYAN BLUES 12 (Wood, Brooks, Williams tries).

Women's league tag final: QUEANBEYAN BLUES 18 bt GUNGAHLIN BULLS 14.