By Tallon Smith

The Queanbeyan Roos are again the champions of the Canberra Raiders Cup after successfully defending their title from last season courtesy of an 18-10 victory over cross-town rivals Queanbeyan Blues at Seiffert Oval on Sunday.

In front of a big crowd, Sam Williams opened the scoring for the Roos with some brilliant support play, before Blues five-eighth Connor Williams struck back to level the game 20 minutes later.

Then, after a penalty goal saw the Roos take a two point lead into the break, five-eighth Lachlan Bristow used great strength to brush off multiple tackles from the Blues defensive line to extend the lead to 12-6.

The Blues didn’t go away however, with Jack Anderson the next to score and close the gap back to two points after the conversion was missed.

It was to be the defending premiers’ day however, as Lucas Thomson sealed the deal for the Roos, kickstarting the celebrations for the boys in maroon and white.

Roos interchange forward and bush footy legend Mick “The Professor” Dodson said that the premiership victory meant a lot to both himself and the entire squad.

“It was something special, and to be able to do it with Ryan and a couple of my really close mates, it was good,” he said.

“To be honest that’s the main reason I’m still doing it, there’s no way I’d be putting my body and my wife and everyone through what I went through if I wasn’t playing with him.”

Dodson said that despite leading for the majority of the game, the Roos never felt comfortable, especially given the tight games between the two clubs in recent history.

“We’d had two draws [this year], and both times we were leading, they can come from anywhere [and] they can score points,” he said.

“We thought we were in the box seat, but after having two draws where they came from nowhere, none of us felt safe, that’s for sure.

“Even that last ten minutes, we were still looking over our shoulder, [but] Thommo’s try [sealed it].”

“I’ve won a couple of premierships with Brauny [Blues Coach Jeremy Braun] at Goulburn, so there was a bit going on,”

One major reason for the Roos’ success according to Dodson was the work ethic of their forward pack, who toiled away relentlessly for the entire eighty minutes.

“They’re just a bunch of workers, like Woodsy [Aidan Woods], he just trucks it up all day, makes a thousand tackles, he’s just all effort,” he said.

“Bailey Hitchcock is the same, he plays eighty in the middle.

“They’re just a bunch of workers, they were always going to dig in for one another.”

Dodson also sung the praises of five-eighth Lachlan Bristow, who picked up his third premiership in twelve months after last year’s Group 9 title with Tumut and his French Elite 2 triumph with Villefranche earlier this year.

“To win three in twelve months, that’s unheard of,” he said.

“I’d played against him a few times, but after playing with him, he’s a winner, he’s just a competitor.”

When asked the most important question of them all, whether or not he will continue his illustrious 30-year career next year, the man nicknamed “The Professor” by fellow country footy page Bush Footy Yarns gave us the answer that we knew would eventually come some day.

“Nah mate, I’m definitely done and dusted,” he told Battlers For Bush Footy.

“Everything I had to do, rehab, in the pool, I had to do [a lot] to keep up.”

In winning the title, the Roos emulated the feats of their 2010 and 2011 sides in going back-to-back, and are now presented with the opportunity to go one step further next season and match the three straight premierships of their legendary 1969-70-71 team.

In the lower grades, Woden Valley Rams won three premierships, defeating Gungahlin 16-14 in the Ladies’ League Tag and 32-26 in Reserves, and Goulburn 34-12 in the Under 19s.

Yass won the Katrina Fanning Shield Women’s Tackle competition for the fourth time in six years after a 28-10 victory also against Gungahlin.

Second Division

Bungendore won their first George Tooke Shield title since 2015 last Saturday after a 30-10 win over the Harden Hawks at Mick Sherd Oval.

The Tigers ran in five tries to two to secure the victory after finishing as Minor Premiers this year, with five different scorers crossing for each of the four pointers.

Meanwhile, the Harden Hawkettes added yet another trophy to their cabinet with a 10-6 victory over the Crookwell Green Devils in the Ladies’ League Tag decider.

The premiership win is their third straight, and sixth in the past eight seasons dating back to 2016.