In horrendous, wet conditions they defeated the West Belconnen Warriors 16-10 at the Workers Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs will now take on the loser of this weekend’s preliminary between the Queanbeyan Blues and the Queanbeyan Roos for a place in the Canberra Raiders Cup grand-final.

Despite the cold and pouring rain, tension boiled, and on numerous occasions frustration resulted in punches. The culmination – an all-in brawl at the conclusion of the match that saw the referee sending off a total of four players.

It was sparked when Goulburn’s Luke Turner was knocked to the ground, the result of a swinging arm to the head from Warriors forward John Papalii.

Both were sent from the field from the resulting brawl, along with Turner’s teammate Nathan Chappell and the Warriors Bobby Roberts.

Turner and Chappell now face the possibility of missing the preliminary or even the grand-final if found guilty of striking at tonight’s judiciary.

“Luke’s a power in the forwards and Chappo is a game winner on the wing so it’ll be devastating if we lose them,” Bulldogs president Joe Stephens told the Post.

Stephens doesn’t believe either player’s actions warrant a suspension, saying he’s reviewed footage and believes neither were instigators of the brawl.

Bulldogs captain/coach Mick Picker is along the same lines. He was off the field with injury when the brawl erupted, but was disappointed for the game to end in hostilities.

“Just from watching the footage, obviously Luke is going to get up and be angry, but we aren’t too sure if Luke even knew where he was. Luke was knocked out,” Picker said.

“If they go, that would tear the guts out of our team, they are two of our key players.”

Despite the controversy, the win, not only against the Warriors but also against the conditions, may just be what the Bulldogs needed to put the side in good stead ahead of their next challenge.

The side adapted to the quagmire better then what the Warriors did. They dropped less ball than their opponent, they had a clear plan that they executed better - kicking early and forcing mistakes. But most pleasing of all was their line defence. While being notorious for leaking points during the season, on Sunday it held strong.

“I was confident in our lines,” Picker said.

“I was confident enough that our lines were strong enough to hold them off and that it would have to be something out of the ordinary for them to score.”

Goulburn had gone up early when Junior Vatikani barged himself over for the only points of the first half.

Both sides struggled in the conditions until Bulldogs hooker Ben Picker scrambled his way over the line from dummy half. The hooker then slotted through a penalty for an imposing 14-0 scoreline.

A try to Tory Freeman against the run of play gave the Warriors life before another Ben Picker penalty made it 16-4.

A beautiful set play from a Warriors scrum that saw an easy ground for their fullback Joe Cramp, brought the side back into the game 16-10 with 10 minutes to go.

But despite the Warriors surging late, Picker’s men held on for a gutsy victory.

“I thought considering the conditions, both teams played really good in defence,” Warriors coach Justin Giteau said.

“As for the incident at the end, I think Johnny (Papalii) was frustrated and it just got to him.

“I think as well the fact that everyone got involved made it seem worse then what it was.”