It was a dramatic, high-scoring and thrilling weekend of local Canberra sport action.
The Goulburn City Bulldogs overcame going down to 12 men to still beat the Woden Valley Rams 28-18 in a fiery encounter in the Canberra Raiders Cup.
A big call came down at Goulburn with forward Memphis Hennessy sent off following his massive first-half hit on Rams no.7 Owen McCaughan.
The tackle attempt sparked a brawl seconds later, before Hennessy was sent packing and put on report.
"There was a late hit first, then you used your head in the push and shove," the referee told the forward.
"Don't question it - go. It's on report. That was very silly."
Despite the bone-crunching collision, McCaughan was able to get back to his feet.
"It was a big tackle on the little halfback," the Bar TV Sports commentator said. "That was a booming tackle.
"McCaughan gets back on his feet, though. He's as tough as a $2 steak."
Belconnen Sharks also had two sin-bins in the first half of their 18-10 defeat to the Queanbeyan Kangaroos.
One was for a dangerous tackle that lifted and slammed a player to the ground, and the other was for dissent, with another player given 10 minutes for "swearing at the ref".
The referee said they were told "shut up" after the player was twice warned not to push or kick after tackles.
Gungahlin Bulls couldn't claw their way back either, having copped two second half sin-bins in their 38-24 loss to the Queanbeyan Blues.
The match of the round in the NPL Men's first grade soccer had to be Canberra Olympic and Belconnen United's 4-4 draw.
It was 2-2 at half-time, and as one team looked to have sealed a winner in the second half, the other fought right back in a see-sawing affair.
There was a lot of talk about the state of Canberra's soccer grounds of late and there were certainly huge patches of dead, weedy grass at O'Connor Enclosed too.
In the other NPL matches on Saturday afternoon, the O'Connor Knights defeated Canberra White Eagles 2-0 and Queanbeyan City scored a 3-1 win over Canberra Juventus.
Eastlake had their goal-kicking boots on in the AFL Canberra first grade men's competition. An incredible 25 goals were scored on Saturday in their 25.18 (168) - 3.7 (45) win over Bateman's Bay at Phillip Oval.
Standouts were Thomas Wischnat who bagged five, and James Roberts, Jackson Crowe and Joey Hancock all had three goals.
In the women's competition, Ainslie had another big win over Gungahlin Jets 11.5 (71) - Jets 0.0 (0), but it didn't dampen the celebrations for Jaye 'Nemo' Anderson, who played her 150th senior game.
She became the first Gungahlin Jets player to reach the milestone, which the club said is "a testament to her unwavering dedication, loyalty, and heart".
