With the league fraternity still reeling from the sudden passing of Canaries prop Tory Brunning last week, both sides turned on a fitting tribute to 'Torz’ and a fitting grand final replay, with Collies ultimately outlasting the Canaries 20-16.

Dapto flyer Josh Bryant went desperately close to leveling the match with a gravity-defying effort with two minutes to play, but was denied by some desperate Dogs cover, with Saxon Onur's 75th minute try proving the match-winner.

Read more: Hundreds farewell Tory Brunning at Dapto memorial service

The thrilling finish came after the Canaries led 8-6 at the break on the back of tries to Josh Bryant and Joel Reddy. Reddy scored his second two minutes after the resumption and the visitors led 16-6 when Dillon Capaan crossed six minutes later.

They looked headed for an emotional victory before the defending premiers stormed back into the match when Jack Cross strolled over from a Jarrod Boyle long-ball midway through the second stanza.

Alec Reid leveled the scores with his second try with 11 minutes left before Onur's effort re-took the lead for the first time since the 24th minute. Bryant went desperately close to an equaliser three minutes later but couldn't find the line.

Read more: Why footy still matters as league family grieves Tory

After a draining week, mentally and physically, Canaries coach Michael Henderson couldn't fault his side's courage but conceded Collies played smarter down the stretch.

“It's obviously been a tough week for everyone,” Henderson said.

“It was uncharted waters for everyone and everyone deals with things like this differently. We had a good send-off for Torz on Friday and we probably did enough today to put ourselves in a position to win the game but let it slip and that's the disappointing part.

“I thought we were a little bit flat early but we did the work in the middle of the game there. We came up with one particular bad option, they got a run of possession and that's the game of footy, it happens like that.

Read more: Blake Lawrie left shocked by loss of former classmate Brunning

“I'm always proud of the effort of the boys, we never give in, we've just got to be a bit smarter. Full credit to Collies, they finished strong and we just weren't good enough.”

It was the latest chapter in what's become an enthralling rivalry between last season's grand finalists and Collegians coach Nathan Fien said the match did justice to occasion.

“With all the emotion with what happened with the Dapto club and Tory last week we wanted to play the game in the right spirit and both sides did that,” Fien said.

“Tory was a well-loved player, not just at Dapto but everywhere else as well. It was hard to get the guy's minds on it a hundred per cent but we spoke about it and the emotion involved.”

“We wanted to respect that and play a game that marked the type of guy he was and it produced everything you'd expect from a grand final rematch. 

"Both sides had their opportunities and the momentum was swinging from side to side so I was really pleased and happy with the way the boys were able to hang in there.

“Dapto are a class outfit, as we know, just tough and ruthless and it was a really good yardstick for where we're at with our season. I was really happy to get the the two points because it could've gone either way.