Blues fortress falls as Yass Magpies swoopTHEIR home fortress has finally been breached and the Queanbeyan Blues are suddenly in danger of losing their top-dog status. 
The Blues will take on the Yass Magpies at Seiffert Oval on Saturday where a second loss in as many weeks could see the league-leaders lose their grip on top spot for the first time since round six.
Should the current competition frontrunners go down at the hands of the Magpies and the Belconnen Scholars and the Goulburn Bulldogs register victories, the Blues could slide to third on the ladder.
It's a fall from grace that had seemed unlikely before last Saturday's 12-6 defeat to a Bulldogs side boosted by the inclusion of Canberra Raiders contracted halfback Mick Picker.
But having been the form team of the competition for the past month, the Blues were utterly inept against Goulburn in a performance labelled by coach Adam Doyle as the side's worst of the season.
"I think we dropped the ball six times on the first tackle in the first half but we'll put it down to just being one of those days where the harder blokes were trying the worse things got,'' he said.
"We had a fair few blokes have an off day, some of them haven't played that badly for a long time and they won't play that badly again.
"To be honest if I wasn't the coach I would have probably gone home, it was pretty boring out there.''
Doyle also said changes would be made in response to the subpar showing and suggested shifting regular centre Dennis Gordon to fullback in an attempt to get his strike weapon move involved.
After a blistering start to the season, Gordon has struggled to make as much of an impact on games in recent weeks as he struggles to return to full fitness. The six-point defeat was particularly disappointing for the Blues who had made going undefeated at Seiffert Oval something of a mantra this season.
The home side was missing regular five eighth Justin Giteau for the clash and his absence was clearly evident as the Blues struggled to find any cohesion on attack.
Giteau's superb form this year could prove a double-edged sword for the Blues who have become reliant on the 32-year-old's playmaking abilities.
Should Giteau's injury concerns flare up again in the lead up to the finals, it would be a potentially disastrous blow to the side's finals campaign.
Doyle will also be sweating on the continued fitness of prop Jay Lasscock who was unavailable for the match against the Bulldogs owing to NSW Country commitments.
With Lassock restricted to running water for the home team, the Blues were well beaten up the middle by a less-well credentialed Goulburn pack.
Goulburn Bulldogs 12 (Williams and Medway tries; Webber 2 goals) bt
Queanbeyan Blues 6 (Gordon try; McLean goal) at Seiffert Oval.
Source: Queanbeyan Age
Topic: Blues fortress falls as Yass Magpies swoop
