Goulburn's day had started well with a solid win by the under 18s but turned somewhat pear-shaped with losses in the women's league tag and reserve grade.

Goulburn's first grade side has been strengthened by the return of Mick Dodson who had previously hung up his Bulldogs boots but had been lured back. Also by Tyler Cornish who missed out on a contract with the Gold Coast Titans and elected to return home, encouraged by spot in the GWC Bulldogs firsts.

Tyler joined his younger brother Nicholas who was already impressing Bulldogs fans with his work-rate in the side. This was a decisive boost to the Goulburn team. 

Early in the season the Bulldogs were struggling to find answers to their opponents plays, but in recent weeks they have managed to get an early lead  in most games and either hang on to it, or maintain close points and not get blown away by their opposition.

For a long period  on Sunday Goulburn held an 18 to 12 lead over West Belconnen, but the visitors closed the gap to 18 to 16. In the early part of the game Goulburn had been doing most of the attacking, but they seemed to tire a little and errors cost them possession and territory.

 With just 14 minutes to go Belconnen snatched the lead with a try out wide that  went unconverted leaving Goulburn trailing 18 to 20.

 The run of play was mostly against Goulburn with West Belconnen threatening the line and forcing Goulburn to work hard in defence. Penalties against the home side didn’t help them to regain the upper hand but with just six minutes left on the clock Dominic Stephens ran in a try, that put Goulburn ahead 22 to 20.

With less than four minutes to go a West Belconnen defensive error gave Pat Cooke the break he needed to cross the try line, out wide, but run in to ground the ball behind the posts, thus giving Blake Hewitt a good central position from which to boot home the conversion and seal the 28 to 20 win for the Workers Bulldogs.

Bulldogs Best and fairest points went to: Nic Cornish 3, Blake Hewitt 2 and Chris Hart 1, Joey Roberts was voted the Players Player.

The win on Sunday puts the Bulldogs into fourth spot on the Raiders Cup ladder, with 12 points and five wins five losses from 10 games. The highest position the team has been this competition.

At the after game function coach Michael Picker said it was good to see the first grade side win but there was still a lot of work to be done.  He stressed that it was important for players in all grades to participate in the training sessions.

“We have some tough games ahead,” Picker said.