Troy Thompson has called on Ryan McQueen to make his mark on the Canberra Raiders Cup in the hope it can inspire another West Belconnen fairytale.
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The West Belconnen Warriors posted a massive 54-12 win to rub salt into the wounds of the winless Belconnen United Sharks at Kippax Oval on Sunday.
Warriors fullback McQueen was in supreme form as he scored three tries on his way to being named West Belconnen's players player.
Now Thompson wants more of it from the NSW Country under 23s custodian as the Warriors look to replicate their underdog success story of 2016.
"He’s the Country fullback so he needs to put a mark on this season," Thompson said.
"He’s been pretty quiet during the year but he played some pretty good footy [on Sunday] which was good.
"We probably could have scored a few more points, I was a bit disappointed with our defence in regards to our intensity, but it’s sort of hard when you play the Sharks, they bring you down to their game and they do it very well too.
"At the end of the season motivation might be low for them... they had 15 blokes out apparently."
The Warriors took a 22-6 lead into the break and they fired a warning shot to suggest they would not take the foot off the throat as soon as Jacob Graham burrowed over from close range to open the second half.
If that didn't get the message across, three tries in the final seven minutes to crack the half-century mark certainly did.
The Warriors onslaught has cleared up the Canberra Raiders Cup finals picture however there remains some room to move for the top four sides in the final round of the regular season.
A crushing win in a top two battle had already sent the Queanbeyan Kangaroos to the top of the table on 27 points, with consecutive losses knocking Tuggeranong Bushrangers (26) to second.
The Woden Valley Rams (25) kept themselves in the hunt for a crucial second chance come finals time when they beat Goulburn, while West Belconnen (24) have almost out the Yass Magpies' (22) top four hopes.
The Warriors boast a far better points differential than Yass - 100 points better - meaning the Magpies would need a minor miracle when they face Goulburn while West Belconnen meet the Kangaroos.
"It was still pretty scratchy, we’re probably still off the pace a little bit. It’ll be all on next weekend though, the Kangaroos are playing for the minor premiership," Thompson said.
"We’ve got a couple of guys out so we’ll see who we get back next week, hopefully we get some players back. She’s all on next week… hopefully we’re in the finals anyway which would be great but we’ve still got to play next week.
"I think the Kangaroos have been the best team we’ve played all year, they pumped us by 50 when we played them out there.
"They’re starting to hit really good form at this part of the season which is really where you want to hit it. It will be a really good test for us to see where we’re at."
AT A GLANCE
Canberra Raiders Cup round 17 -
WEST BELCONNEN WARRIORS 54 (R McQueen 3, R Thomas 2, M Campbell, T Aroha-Tuinauvai, B Loughhead, T Moa, J Graham tries; L Keeley 7 goals) bt BELCONNEN UNITED SHARKS 12
QUEANBEYAN KANGAROOS 44 (B Cronan, T Henderson, S Meke, J Baxter, N Grant, D Hay, N Ngere tries; B Crisp 6 goals) bt TUGGERANONG BUSHRANGERS 6 (J Mitchell try; J Mitchell goal)
YASS MAGPIES 32 (T Warner 3, J Vatikani tries; S Davis 4 goals) bt GUNGAHLIN BULLS 12 (M Sollis 2, E Tonga tries)
WODEN VALLEY RAMS 38 (T Hodge 2, L Withers 2, D Spencer, B Martin, M Gilmour tries; L Withers 5 goals) d GOULBURN BULLDOGS 14 (J Whittaker, H Hodge tries; J Fattore goal)
