And it was a game West Belconnen coach Matt Gafa will never forget - his first win as Warriors coach. A win that was 18 months in the making.

The Warriors claimed the inaugural Brad Hardy Cup, beating the Woden Valley Rams 30-12 at Kippax on Saturday.

Hardy played juniors for both clubs, but tragically died in a motor vehicle accident in March.

His father Cameron coaches the Yass Magpies and there was a minute's silence in Hardy's honour before the game.

"It's a great gesture from both clubs. It's a sad loss for the family to go through so to honour Brad playing for this cup, it's a great tribute to him and the Hardy family," Gafa said.

"It's a really good idea and it's always going to keep him in the memories of both clubs.

"It was good to get my first win. It was a long time coming because with COVID we didn't play and we had to start again."

Gafa signed on as West Belconnen coach ahead of the 2020 season, only for the COVID-19 virus to end the Warriors' participation in the Canberra Raiders Cup just three days before the season started.

It meant he's had to wait until now to taste victory for the first time.

The Warriors finally started well and held a 14-6 lead at half-time, withstanding a Rams fightback before running in three unanswered tries to seal the win.

Those three tries included a cracker set up by Warriors five-eighth John Veloudos, who regathered his own grubber before offloading brilliantly to second-rower Kiarn Wilson.

Warriors prop Tim Sloman scored a brace, while second-rower Josh Ayers was outstanding on the left edge.

The Rams were right in the game after Andrew Chard barged over after a fierce run, cutting the deficit to just two points, but handling errors would prove costly as the Warriors retook control.

"We struggled to hold onto the ball and it only puts us under pressure," Rams coach Ken Nagas said.

"When you're defending back-to-back sets it's hard to create some momentum with the ball.

"We put ourselves under pressure and we couldn't get back into it.

"They didn't stop and they didn't give up, but at times we just made silly, dumb mistakes. We just couldn't hold them. They were just rolling through us."

AT A GLANCE

WEST BELCONNEN WARRIORS 30 (Timothy Sloman 2, Kane Rushton, Kiarn Wilson, Logan Reis tries; Bayley Graham 5 goals) bt WODEN VALLEY RAMS 12 (Andrew Chard, Sean Maloney tries; Jackson McDonald 2 goals)

QUEANBEYAN BLUES 60 (R Holani 3, C Woolford 2, C Ale 2, M Parsons 2, F Tonga, G Morseu tries; J Mitchell 7, H Bradley goals) bt TUGGERANONG BUSHRANGERS 6 (T Mariota try; J Heyman goal)

QUEANBEYAN KANGAROOS 24 (T Casey 2, J Simbiken, A Ngahe tries; L Ingram 4 goals) bt BELCONNEN UNITED SHARKS 18 (P Amponn-Nyameyke, S Tupuola, S Fensom, J Slavin tries; L Kaloutolu goal)

GUNGAHLIN BULLS 36 (T Eldridge 2, D Aylott, R O'Sullivan, C Smith, J Williams tries; L Thomson 6 goals) bt YASS MAGPIES 34 (B Barrie 2, B Watson 2, C Shepherd, C Harris, M Turner tries; S Davis 3 goals)