West Belconnen Warriors captain Ryan McQueen isn't one for Churchillian speeches - his leadership qualities kick in once the referee blows the opening whistle.
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For that reason he has just been compared to one of the Canberra Raiders' most inspiring captains in Alan Tongue by Warriors coach and former Green Machine workhorse Troy Thompson.
Thompson handed McQueen the captaincy role at the start of last season - a year that ended in Canberra Raiders Cup triumph - and his decision was vindicated again on Saturday.
West Belconnen locked themselves into the top four for another week with a comprehensive 60-0 thrashing of the Belconnen Sharks at O'Connor Oval.
The win is the Warriors' third on the trot and they have a chance to book their ticket to the finals next week when they face the fifth-placed Tuggeranong Bushrangers.
The Sharks won't feature in the finals and coach Scott Logan slammed his players for a "heartless" effort, sensing they are just counting down the days until the end of the season.
McQueen was only 20 when he took the Warriors captaincy gig but Thompson had no hesitation in giving the reins to the impressive club junior.
"He's like 'Tonguey' mate, he doesn't say much but you know week in, week out, he's going to give you his best," Thompson said.
"That's all I can ask. He just never has a bad game. He doesn't say much before the game or during training, but he just leads by example. He's tough, he always competes, he shows up at the right time."
McQueen has taken the captaincy in his stride and lifted his game to another level, proving to be a serious threat to the Sharks' defence all afternoon.
The speedy fullback starred for the visitors, who piled on 34 second half points as they cut the Sharks defence to pieces.
"There's a few older heads here that probably could have taken it as well but I'm really just taking it with both hands and enjoying it at the moment," McQueen said.
"I just keep my mouth shut and try to show it on the field rather than with my talk. I let the older boys talk it up in there and just do my bit on the field."
Logan was left "disappointed and embarrassed" by the home side's showing, and says things will need to change fast or they'll take a long time to get back to winning ways.
"People talk about the two Belconnen clubs but there is a fair gap between the two and that was evident today," Logan said.
"It is what it is, we're trying to rebuild our club and we've got a lot of players that come and go week to week.
"Guys can sense the end of the season coming and it just doesn't mean enough to them at the moment, which is disappointing."
