The Magpies looked to have the game in the bag at half-time with a handy 4-1 lead after some sizzling attacking play in the first 20 minutes.

But after copping a half-time spray, the Black and Whites showed the form that has seen them play in every grand final since leaguetag's inception.

With the sides locked at 4-4 at the end of regulation time, a drop-off was ordered with the sides unable to be split until there were only four players apiece.

The task of pushing her side through to the decider then fell to newly crowned player of the year Racheal Pearson, who scored the winner, sparking wild scenes of celebration from her teammates.

Griffith co-coach Glen Johnston was philosophical about the result, saying his side showed what it is capable of when it is pushed into a corner.

"We got a bit of mongrel about them, we asked them if they wanted to win and said they had gone from a 40-minute game, now you've given them a handy lead and you've got 20 minutes to make it back up again," Johnston said.

"They got out there and got fairly aggressive and things started to turn around for us."

Johnston predicted Hay is a real chance of knocking off multi-time champions Leeton next weekend.

"I reckon they could, there was a few Leeton girls here watching first grade and they said they would have been worried if they were playing either side today," he said.

Pearson was on fire early for Hay having a hand in scoring many of her sides' opening tries to see them take the lead into the break.

But on the back of excellent performances by Makelesi Togo, Nicolette Crowe and Tynetta French, the Black and Whites climbed back into the game.

Griffith was down a player when Roslyn Fishenden broke her collarbone in the process of scoring to keep her side's late-game charge going.

But they ran out of steam in the sudden-death drop-off where Hay proved to be too good to book their spot alongside the Greens next weekend for the premiership for 2010.