Canberra Raiders Cup: Terry Campese guides Queanbeyan Blues past Woden Valley Rams into grand final

The Blues were too strong for the undermanned Rams at Gungahlin Oval, with several Woden Valley players out of the preliminary final through injury and suspension.

After over two decades in the game, Raiders NRL legend Campese is hanging up the boots for good, and now into the season decider before saying farewell, the veteran playmaker and Les McIntyre Medal winner wants to leave his beloved Blues with another trophy in the cabinet.

"It's every boy's dream, really," Campese told The Canberra Times.

"From a young age your first goal is to make the big time and I was lucky enough to achieve that in the NRL. But to finish off your playing career on a good note for your junior club, to go out on a high winning a grand final, that would be special."

The possibility of making Queanbeyan 'title town' is another big motivator for the Blues.

Following the Queanbeyan Tigers' and Queanbeyan Whites' title victories in Canberra's men's first grade competitions in Aussie rules and rugby union, respectively, the Blues could lock up a hat-trick of footy championships for the city if they defeat the West Belconnen Warriors next week.

The grand final on Sunday will see the Blues face a Warriors team high on confidence, and Campese knows they're in for a battle.

"West Belconnen are in red-hot form so it's going to be a cracker," the five-eighth said.

"They've got strike weapons across the field, so we're going to have to be even better than we were today."

Campese pulled his quad a month ago and was feeling it against the Rams. He was still confident he would be right for the grand final.

"I'm slowly getting there. I think I should be 100 per cent by next week," he said.

Queanbeyan came to Gungahlin on a mission and executed brilliantly early to race to a 22-0 first-half lead.

Just two minutes in, Jake Butler-Fleming scored the opener off a long pass wide by Campese and the Blues were in again minutes later, Matt Parsons finishing a break on the wing by Tristan Eldridge.

The Rams' defence tightened up after the early onslaught but the Blues kept coming and Parsons had his double off a break by prop Atunaisa Tupou up the middle. Bryce Lee added one more before half-time and the break couldn't have come at a better time with tempers flaring.

Jesse Martin and Campese needed to be separated by their teammates as they exchanged verbal assaults on the way to the sheds.

Woden Valley got off to the perfect start in the second half, Scott Swanson scoring inside two minutes, followed by a try from Joel Ambrose.

Just as the Rams got a sniff of a contest, though, Blues winger George Morseu finished strongly in the corner and Butler-Fleming got his double. The Rams had a couple of late consolation tries but Campese put the cherry on top with a penalty goal in the final minutes.

"It was tough with our season finishing today. But they went out and gave it their all," Woden Valley coach Billy Thomson said.

"We had nine out all together from when we started, and just seven full first-graders.

"We had a lot of kids out there today which showed our bright future and they really played for each other. I've come in with a couple of years' plan to turn it all around and they've done it really quickly this year. It's been fantastic."

Canberra Raiders Cup preliminary final: QUEANBEYAN BLUES 36 (Butler-Fleming 2, Parsons 2, Morseu, Lee tries; Campese 6 goals) bt WODEN VALLEY RAMS 22 (Swanson, Ambrose, McDonald, Prior tries; McDonald 3 goals).

Katrina Fanning Shield preliminary final: WODEN VALLEY RAMS 30 (Kiriui, Kennedy, Ryan, Waihape, Allan, Downey tries; Morris 3 goals) bt GOULBURN CITY BULLDOGS 20 (Hazelton 2, Tooth 2 tries; Ottaway 2 goals).

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