Canberra Raiders Cup First Grade: Grand Final Preview

The 2022 Canberra Raiders Cup has come down to only 80 minutes of football, where the minor premiers West Belconnen will battle it out with the Queanbeyan Blues this Sunday afternoon at Seiffert Oval.

West Belconnen Warriors v Queanbeyan Blues, 3:20pm, Seiffert Oval

The Warriors will be refreshed with the week off after their 46-10 demolition of the Woden Valley Rams in the major semi-final on their home turf, only a fortnight ago.

The minor premiers bring plenty of confidence into this contest, winning their last two matches by a combined margin of 72 points.

Their round 18 victory which sealed their minor premiership birth was in-fact a dominant 26-6 victory over the Queanbeyan Blues at Seiffert Oval.

However, captain coach Ryan McQueen believes this Sunday will be a completely different contest given two major inclusions into the Blues side.

 "It's hard. You obviously add Josh Mitchell and Campo (Terry Campese) into that side and it changes the whole dynamic of that team.

We can take bits and pieces out of it but it's going to be a completely different challenge this weekend."

Meanwhile, the Blues' challenging finish to the year seen them finish in fourth position, forced to do it the hard way if they were to make another grand final appearance.

However they did just that, knocking off premiership heavyweights Tuggeranong followed by a dominant preliminary final victory over Woden last Sunday.

Blues edge-forward Josh Baker spoke about the importance of those two players in Campese and Mitchell, and how much they've brought to the team throughout their finals campaign.

"They're massive for us. Obviously Campo with his direction and Josh with his smarts in hooker.

We definitely missed them with a few games they were out, but again it showed over the last two weeks what they can do for the team."

The match-ups right across the park are mouth watering, where both sides adopt a large mobile forward pack with exciting outside backs which can score points from anywhere on the field.

Both these sides have met twice throughout the season where it is one-all between the pair, highlighting that there's nothing between them entering this Sunday.

Of course, only one side can be crowned Canberra Raiders Cup champions. 80 minutes of football awaits either side with everything on the line.