RUGBY LEAGUE: With less than three minutes to go and down two points, Wallumbilla-Surat Redbulls' Floyd Daniel knew he had to use his size and speed to take the game off Roma Cities.

In what was a nail-biting finish in the local derby, Daniel pummelled his way through the 10m line with only Cities fullback Thomas Barron standing in his way.

The proud Torres Strait forward man-handled Barron, throwing him out of the way before crashing over the line to secure a win for the Redbulls at the season opener.

"I wasn't thinking about making a try to be honest, I just thought if I ran straight and hard I believed I could take the game off them,” Daniel said.

"Cities came out hard and, believe it or not, I did think at one stage that we were going home with a loss.

"But it was just the turn of events that got us there and the boys dug deep and we just played for each other.”

With a converted try the Redbulls were up 30-26 with just 50 seconds to go.

A last minute field-length break for the line by Cities had the crowd on their feet but a fumble one metre out cost the home side victory.

The ball was turned over and the Redbulls were happy to kick it into touch.

It was heartbreaking for Roma Cities supporters, as the boys in white and blue led almost the entire game with most punters thinking the Arthur Beetson Oval home side was taking home the win.

Born in Townsville and raised in Mundubbera before moving out west to Roma, Daniel has become somewhat of a local footy legend at the Wallumbilla-Surat Redbulls Rugby League Football Club.

After having a spell on the bench, Daniel returned to the field in the 71st minute, he told the Western Star he thought if he put his best foot forward and had a good truck up that he may hopefully come up with a try.

Daniel said the local derby showed how much the boys really wanted a win.

"Discipline is a huge thing in today's game and I felt that we lacked that in the beginning so it was mainly catch-up footy,” Daniel said.

"But the boys played well and this was a local derby so the boys always play with their hearts on their sleeves.

The Redbulls will have a week off and then face off against Miles/Taroom/Wandoan on April 28.