The Queanbeyan Kangaroos will miss the Canberra Raiders Cup grand final for the first time in five years after going down to a rampaging Goulburn Workers Bulldogs 32-24 at Seiffert Oval on Sunday.
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Goulburn were relentless in defence, and being able to expose the Kangaroos so easily in their own defence, they will run into next Sunday's grand final, against the Queanbeyan Blues at the same ground, in full form.
While the Kangaroos had the most possession and field position in the first 20 minutes, the Bulldogs scored first courtesy of winger Tim Turner after he ran up in support of a Mick Picker line-break.
The Roos ran back into attack from that point, and a perfectly placed Jordan Macey kick found centre Daniel Watt, who barged over after a tap-back from winger Kody Parsons.
But this proved a brief momentum change, as the Bulldogs turned proceedings on its head again, and ran in three tries to go into the half time break 20-6 up.
They exposed the home side on the wings again, with centre Nathan Chappell crossing, as well as former North Queensland Cowboys NRL star Michael Bani.
Kangaroos coach and captain Aaron Gorrell had only played 40 minutes of football throughout the whole season, and with his men's season on the line, brought himself back on the field at hooker.
He made an impact in the second half, sending winger Ratu Tagive over the try line and Watt over for his double, and the margin was back to 20-18.
Bulldogs back rower Ritchie Mason had other ideas when he crashed over though, with the Kangaroos again not marking up in their defence, and Michael Dodson crashed over for a double to blow the score out to 32-18.
Forward Luke Sutton scored a consolation try to bring the margin back to 10, but insult added to injury, as forward Aidan Woods was stretchered off the field with a knee injury suffered in an awkward tackle.