"You can't give me that much space, I guess."
It was a tongue-in-cheek remark from Tom Ruediger, but West Belconnen found out the hard way it's true after the Queanbeyan Blues right centre tore them apart in Sunday's 26-20 preliminary final win at Seiffert Oval.
Ruediger, considered unlucky by some not to win this year's Les McIntyre Medal, scored two early tries and set up another for fullback Adam Misios to build a 22-0 Blues lead after 25 minutes.
The Warriors eventually benched Ruediger's opposite number Tevita Aroha-Tuinauvai, with Taniela Moa doing a good job of shutting down his time in the second half.
But despite a late comeback from West Belconnen on the back of a lopsided second-half penalty count, the defending Canberra Raiders Cup premiers held firm.
It sets up a replay of last year's grand final between the Blues and Goulburn next Sunday, which Queanbeyan won in extra time.
"It just opened up. Our game plan was to go left but they pushed that way and it gave me the space, you can't give me that much space I guess," Ruediger said.
"We're working on just sticking together, which we did in that second half.
"We withheld 20 minutes of them having the ball and going into the grand final it's going to give us a lot of confidence, holding out a good attacking team like Westies."
Although they won the minor premiership, the Blues had a worrying form slump before finals.
The West Belconnen win was their first against a top-eight side since May 16, and Blues skipper Marc Herbert is hopeful they've turned the corner.
"We were in a rut towards the end of the season, we didn't need any more motivation today with the grand final on the line," Herbert said.
"We gave away too many penalties, I think it was 10-3 in the second half.
"I feel like some of them weren't deserved, it seemed to be a strange interpretation of the rule but it certainly let them back in the game.
"To our credit we hung in there with limited ball and not much field position, we defended really well."
The Blues' attack looked slick early and all four of their early tries came through West Belconnen's left edge defence.
However West Belconnen closed to 22-10 at half-time through tries to Taniela Moa and Ryan McQueen.
A try to Sheen Lomax bridged the gap to 22-16 with 17 minutes left, but a Jake Wheeler try off a Herbert bomb gave them breathing space.
Although their comeback fell short, Warriors coach Justin Giteau leaves the club in better shape then when he took over two years ago, just after the Blues had embarrassed them 98-0.
It is understood Gungahlin co-coach and former Canberra Raiders Troy Thompson will take his place next season.
"We weren't winning the ruck early for one, we were making too many errors and they were just rolling down the field," Giteau said.
"Tommy's one of the best in the comp, good players take advantage of it.
"You can't give good sides like the Blues that much start and full credit to them, they deserved to win and there's no excuses on our side."
PRELIMINARY FINAL
QUEANBEYAN BLUES 26 (Tom Ruediger 2, Tyler Stevens, Jake Wheeler, Adam Misios tries; Craig Wilkinson 3 goals) bt WEST BELCONNEN WARRIORS 20 (Sheen Lomax 2, Ryan McQueen, Taniela Moa tries; Howie Brown 2 goals)
Next Sunday: Grand final - Goulburn v Queanbeyan Blues at Seiffert Oval, 3pm
