Kangaroos coach Aaron Gorrell believes his side needs to perform better than their best this weekend, in the major semi-final against the Blues this Sunday.
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The Blues are aiming to reach their fourth consecutive final in the Canberra Raiders Cup, something which Gorrell believes is a remarkable achievement.
“They’ve obviously been the dominant team over the last two years. They’ve won the last two competitions, and we beat them in the one before that,” Gorrell said.
“They’re shooting for their fourth straight grand final. For any team at any level to do that, it’s a fair achievement.
“We need to be at our best and maybe a little bit more.”
Despite their rival’s recent dominance, the Kangaroos enter the semi-final on the back of a winning streak that stretches back to round two of the competition.
The Kangaroos were defeated 56-0 by the Blues that round, in what was the Roos’ first match of the season.
“We had trials that fell through. We had a lot of new blokes and most of the blokes hadn’t played since August the year before.”
However, Gorrell is pleased with his side’s form heading into the semi-finals after the team beat the fourth-placed Gungahlin Bulls last Friday night.
With an under-strength side, they defeated the Bulls 24-4.
“I thought we were pretty dominant. I don’t think the score justifies how dominant we were to be honest, but to [Gungahlin's] credit, they stuck in there.”
Despite having players injured and resting others, Gorrell expects his side to be at full strength this weekend.
“We’ll have everyone [back]. If it was a semi-final last weekend, everyone would have played,” Gorrell said.
Although the player-coach expects a tough match against the Blues, he is confident in his team’s chances of victory.
“We’re confident without being too cocky,” Gorrell said.
“I think you’ve got to be confident in any game you go in to. If you don’t go into a game thinking you aren’t going to win you probably shouldn’t play.”
“Whoever wins the forward battle [wins the game]. Personally, I think that’s our strength.”
“Our forwards have been pretty good all year and our halves have just been smart enough to play on the back of that.”
The Queanbeyan Kangaroos will go up against their hometown rivals the Queanbeyan Blues this Sunday, August 28, at 3pm at Freebody Oval.