Illawarra book SG Ball finals berth on scarlet and white day at Collegians

With his casualty award overflowing, coach Shaun Timmins reached deep into his depth chart to good effect, his side leading 28-0 at the break.

It came largely due to a monstrous showing from star centre Hayden Buchanan on the left edge, the Gerringong product scoring a double and laying on another by halftime.

The second stanza played out at a lacklustre pace, finishing two tries apiece as the Steelers got home comfortably.

Their passage through finals promises to be anything but amid a hefty injury toll, but Timmins said his side deserves its taste of finals action in a fortnight's time.

"We obviously had a heap of blokes out and we knew they'd come down here with nothing to lose wanting to knock us out of the semis," Timmins said.

"Our boys turned up in the first half and played well. We were a bit ordinary in the second half, but the first half won us the game.

"We just wanted to run a bit harder and tackle a hit harder than they wanted to and we've got too much strike in the side [for that].

"It's been a tough week with injuries, but it's been a good year and now we go through to the semis. It's been a great effort from them to get there and semis is a new game.

"We've had a really good year and there's some really good boys here. Now we'll just see who's available and we'll get in there and have a crack."

Kade Reed had his side's first try under the posts after Toby Rumble broke away down the left flank and kicked the ball back towards the posts.

Having put Rumble away two sets earlier, Buchanan got over himself down a short side to push the lead out to 12-nil with Clay Baldock's conversion.

Lucas Borg continued the momentum with a weaving 40-metre run to the line for try number three and an 18-0 lead.

Jarrah Treweek crashed over from dummy half before a pinpoint 40-20 from Reed opened the door for Buchanan's second.

Baldock's first missed conversion of the saw the hosts take a handy 28-0 cushion to the break.

The Bears posted the first two tries of the second stanza, but Baldock's 53rd minute try righted the hosts' ship.

Jackson Rieck's close-range effort with three minutes left was merely an exclamation point.

Earlier, Jamie Szczerbanik's Harold Matthews side showed plenty of heart to end the season on a high with a 20-16 win over the Bears.

Trailing 16-8 down the stretch, tries to Axel Antony and Hayden Whatman inside the final eight minutes got the Steelers home.

It was positive end to a largely luckless campaign, with Szczerbanik praising his side's desire with nothing but pride to play for.

"The team (the Bears) that's sitting at the bottom of the table and has nothing to lose is always going to come out with their tails wagging wanting to finish on a high," Szczerbanik said.

"We saw that be we just spoke about pride in the jersey and obviously our area. We ran Sublime Point and had a look over Wollongong and the community that we're actually playing for.

"We had to draw on that in the second half to get us out of trouble, just cast our minds back and remember that we're not just playing for ourselves.

"We're actually playing for Wollongong and the Illawarra region and the boys dug in and they played for the full 60 minutes.

"We didn't have the 50-50s go our way today and quite easily could have just rolled over and let them have the game, but we didn't. That's something to be proud of.

"Every week the boys are willing to play for each other. Things haven't gone to plan at times throughout the season, but they're willing to roll their sleeves up for each other, week in week out, and that's been the pleasing thing."

Both the Tarsha Gale Cup and Lisa Fiaola Cup sides claimed convincing victories over the Sharks to finish top two in both competitions.