Herbert finds his feet

AFTER a solid if unspectacular start to life at Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan Blues five-eighth Marc Herbert showed enough in last weekend’s local derby against the Kangaroos to suggest he may just have found his feet.

The former Canberra Raiders playmaker was a marquee off-season singing for the Blues with the club coaxing him back to the field after 18 months out of the game.

And on Saturday, Herbert showed why incoming coach Simon Woolford was so keen to bring him on board at Seiffert Oval, scoring one try and laying on two more in the Blues’ 44-12 victory over their cross-town rivals.

“It’s taken me awhile to get into my grove but I feel like I’m building,” Herbert said. “The first couple of games, I wasn’t taking it easy, but I was maybe hanging back a bit.

“I’d been out of the game for a while but I’m finding my feet now and I’m starting to click with the boys so it’s starting to come together a little bit.

“I think my previous game against Tuggeranong was my best game since coming back and then I think Saturday [against the Kangaroos] was better again.”

The Blues’ big win means the side is firmly cemented atop the Canberra Raiders Cup standings heading into the two-week midseason break.

Aside from a second-half slip up against Woden in round three, the Blues have been the team to beat this year.

And the side’s performance against the Kangaroos was arguably the title favourite’s most polished of the season to date.

“I think against Tuggeranong we showed we can put it together and we learnt from that and stepped it up again [against the Kangaroos]” Herbert said.

“We still had patches where we weren’t at our best but to put together probably about 70 minutes of quality footy was pretty pleasing. 

“We’ve shown that we can put a lot of points on the board so as long as we stick to our game plan and stay calm out there we’re going to beat a lot of teams.”