The Eagles, who fell to Hamilton last year, dominated on the synthetic surface of Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility at Speers Point to join Maitland in the nationwide knockout's main draw.

Valentine looked to have scored the opener when Luke Willard ran onto a cross and headed the ball in, but he was ruled offside.

Edgeworth controlled the rest of the half and hit the crossbar with shots from Keanu Moore (21^st minute) and Tyson Jackson (23rd).

Josh Rose forced Perry Budden into a save with a powerful strike in the 34^th minute but the Phoenix keeper was unable to deny Smith in the 42^nd.

Moore ran into open space from a turnover before finding Smith, who finished past Budden with a left-foot strike.

Moore struck in the 52^nd minute when he ran on to a back-heeled flick from Will Bower and toed the ball into the right corner.

Smith's second came in the 64^th minute when Jackson's pass exposed the Valentine defence and the striker finished the one-on-one chance.

Jackson put an exclamation mark on the win with a tracer-bullet strike from 20 metres out in the 69^th minute.

Bower scored from the spot for 5-0 in the 84^th minute after he had fallen in the box under pressure from Brock Oakley.

Jose Atayde was a casualty for Edgeworth in the 59^th minute with concussion.