AT halftime it looked like the Blues had set up their second consecutive grand final appearance and a solid chance to defend their title, but a strong Goulburn outfit charged into the second half to run away with a 28-18 win at Seiffert Oval.
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Queanbeyan are now forced to face the in-form West Belconnen on Sunday, fresh from their minor semi-final win over former favourites the Roos, for their second shot at a grand final appearance.
Tries from Queanbeyan's Trevor Thurling, Tom Ruediger and Jake Wheeler put the Blues at a 18-6 advantage at the break. But the Blues could not get near the Bulldogs in the second half, conceding 22 unanswered points.
"It's disappointing. We played well for the first half and 12 points in front going downhill and with the wind it should've been enough," Blues coach Simon Woolford said.
"But to Goulburn's credit they capitalised on our poor defence and in the end we were fatigued because we were starved of the footy.
"We just lost a bit of belief and confidence and let the game slip away."
The Bulldogs starved the home side of possession, made the most of any errors the Blues made and were close to flawless themselves.
Fortunately the Blues minor premiership grants them a chance at redemption, they will take on the Warriors this Sunday, August 30 and Woolford said they are confident they can get a another shot at the Bulldogs in the grand final.
"We played enough decent footy during the year to earn a second chance, we have to make the most of that," he said.
"Wests are on a roll, they're a strong side and when they put the ball in good positions they're hard to stop, so we need to control the ball.
"But we just have to bottle what we did in that first half. Our defense needs to improve when we're under the pump and we have to react to our errors and be positive in the way we react. We dropped our bundle a bit.
"Things don't always go our way, but we just need to deal with it and swing the momentum back our way."
Despite a heavy cork Tom Ruediger battled through for the Blues in the semi, as did Ben Nicoll and Scott Rutland, but Woolford said he would call on each and every player to battle hard until the final siren this weekend.
"We know we can win. If we play collectively for 80 minutes we can win," he said.
Goulburn 28 (B Marmont, M Dodson, B Picker, M Worboys, J Picker tries; B Picker 4 goals) bt Queanbeyan Blues 18 (J Wheeler, T Ruediger, T Thurling tries; T Stevens 3 goals).
