THE Queanbeyan Blues reserve grade side will join their first grade elders in Canberra Raiders Cup grand final action at Seiffert Oval on Sunday, after taking out cross-town rivals the Kangaroos at the weekend.
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They will be aiming for their first premiership since 2012, and will take a mountain of confidence into their grand final clash against the West Belconnen Warriors after taking out the Kangaroos 42-16 at home last Sunday.
West Belconnen are already one win up on the Blues this finals series, edging them out 24-22 in a nail-biting contest two weeks ago in the major semi-final, but the Blues lost just two games to finish on top of the ladder.
Blues reserves coach Ronny Hoare said his men's ability to hang onto the ball was a great improvement from recent weeks, and said that would be their main focus heading into the grand final.
"We held onto the ball which gave us the field position that warranted the score," said Hoare.
"It's something we hadn't been doing in the last couple of weeks, so that was very pleasing."
"We were probably under done in the last game [major semi-final against West Belconnen] with blokes coming back from injury, so playing back-to-back games will make us better for the run this week."
In a further boost to the side ahead of their grand final, Hoare will welcome back key centre Bradley Stokes, who he said will give his men more power up front, while three of his forwards are due back from injury.
He said his team's 'spine' in prop Jason Farnhill, hooker Brendon Lyons, five-eighth Franz Skeen and fullback Simon Holstein had formed a successful combination this season, and said if they fired again in the grand final, his men would be hard to stop.
"We'll be at full strength on Sunday, but most of our men who played today [against the Kangaroos] put their hand up to play, and that was very pleasing, said Hoare.