Queanbeyan Kangaroos Sam Williams eyes Canberra Raiders Cup grand final after Les McIntyre Medal win

"There was a few laughs around training," Williams said.

"They're a pretty good bunch, I think they were pretty pleased for me. As a team, we probably felt someone deserved the award from our group and I was just the face of it."

The Queanbeyan Kangaroos captain-coach claimed the Les McIntyre Medal as the Canberra Raiders Cup's player of the year and the Don Furner Snr coach of the year award - all in his first year at the helm.

Williams polled 22 points to pip Belconnen United Sharks half Matthew Woolnough - who finished with 21 points - to claim the competition's highest individual accolade and become the first Kangaroo to win the award since Brent Crisp in 2017.

MORE SPORT:

Goulburn halfback Mitch Cornish and Woden Valley Rams hooker Mitchel Souter rounded out the top four with 17 and 16 votes respectively.

"Obviously it's not the reason you play, you don't set those sort of goals at the start of the year but it's always nice," Williams said. "It's a good reward for the team as much as anything, up until this point we've had a fairly successful season so it's nice someone from our club picked up the big one."

Now the focus turns to the real big one.

Queanbeyan face the Tuggeranong Bushrangers - the only side to have beaten the Kangaroos all year - in the major semi-final at Freebody Oval on Sunday.

Win, and you book yourself a ticket to the grand final at Seiffert Oval on September 17. Lose, and you're scrapping for a place in the decider next week.

Awaiting them will be the winner of Saturday's minor semi-final, with the West Belconnen Warriors taking on Belconnen United at Kippax Oval to open the finals series.

The Kangaroos have lost just one game all season - a one-point nail-biter against Tuggeranong last month. They responded with 148 points in their next three games to finish eight clear on the competition ladder.

If you could concoct a market for premiership favouritism, the Kangaroos would be even shorter than Penrith-like odds.

"We've probably had that expectation since halfway through the season. We got through that first period of the season without losing," Williams said.

"There's probably been some expectation from outside our group anyway, but the Bushies beat us last time we played them. I'm under no illusions and our playing group is under no illusions, we've got a big game on our hands and a really good football side there. If we don't play well, we'll get beaten."

First glance suggests this captain-coaching caper isn't all that difficult for Williams, whose haul of 199 points during the regular season is 79 clear of the next best.

But this has hardly been a one-man band. Sia Soliola's experience has added plenty, so too the strike power of Harry Quinlan, Jesse Dent and Kaine Pugura, who all sit inside the league's top four try scorers.

Queanbeyan ended the regular season with a points differential of 435. Numbers won't tell you everything, but that's 325 better than the next.

"There'll be no excuses come Sunday, we're extremely excited for it. It's been in the back of the mind over the past few weeks," Williams said.

"Once the minor premiership was wrapped up it was always about 'let's get to the semis'. We're there now and just very excited to be playing a major semi at home in front of a lot of people who have been there throughout the season.

"We can't fault our preparation and it's up to us now to play well. If we play well, we're a very good side. If we don't play well, we'll be there to be beaten."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.