In the curtain-raiser, Goulburn took the reserve grade honours 26-19, and first grade survived a nail-biter to win by 29-28.

For the Reds, who’ve  been falling just short in most of the matches this year, the wins have proven a timely relief.

Coach Ben Pearson was particularly heartened by the fact the two sides were able to get the wins with only 22 players on the day.

“We’ve got a stack of guys backing up every week, and that takes a toll,” he said.

“Fatigue affects you, and not just physically. There’s mental fatigue in knowing you’re lining up for another game, and it affects your decision making later in games as you begin to tire. A lot has been asked of the players and they can be very proud of their efforts”

The Reds have endured a tough draw so far this year. Aside from the first game being at home, the last three matches have been on the road and all three rounds were against strong ACT clubs

Saturday's wins could be filed under the “must win” category, playing against one of the former Monaro clubs for the first time this year that was also battling to register points on the competition tables.

“Young are competitors, they have been doing it tough with their numbers also, it was hard fought by both clubs and satisfying to get the win,” Pearson said.

“So it was no easy win. If we can keep a good record against the Monaro clubs we should be doing ok.”

This weekend the Reds will be back at Poidevin Oval the first time in a month, against long -time rivals the Hall Bushrangers. Going into last weekend, Hall were in equal first place after three straight bonus point wins, but last weekend they lost by one point against Cooma.

They’ll be keen to atone for that loss and for their preliminary final loss to Goulburn that knocked them out of the grand final.

Goulburn will be hoping to retain their most recent form but even more than that, hoping to play with two full sides and a few fresh reserves.

The problem hasn’t been the lack of registered players – 45 senior players have registered with the club for 2017. The problem has been a swathe of injuries and unavailabilities but Coach Pearson is quietly confident of having better numbers this weekend.

“There are some guys who are set to come back from injuries pretty soon,” said Pearson.

“And some guys that aren’t able to travel to as many away games. Lack of numbers has been our biggest enemy this season but I’ll be ringing to check availability and hopefully we can put full teams on the paddock.”

The reserve grade game against Hall kicks off at 1.30pm this Saturday, following first grade at 3pm.

Goulburn 29 (Aidan Greaves, Simon Graves, George Boardman, Abram Kara tries, Mikael Webber 3 conversions one penalty goal) bt Young 28.

Best and fairest points: Mik Webber 3, Brad Clements 2, Tim Moule 1, Abram Kara 1.

Players Player: Boyd Newby

Goulburn 26 (Josh Kleining, Brad Clements, Jeff Caldwell, Mik Webber tries, Brandon Courts 3 conversions) bt Young 19.

Best and fairest points: Kynan Campbell 3, Josh Kleining 2, Aaron Williams 2.

Players Player: Kynan Campbell.