AN allegation of eye gouging, two players going to-to-toe after just a few minutes and some splendid football in between.
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This was a Canberra Raiders Cup match which had almost everything and sets the scene for a fiery replay when the Queanbeyan Kangaroos and the Goulburn Workers Bulldogs square off later in the season.
The Bulldogs had the last laugh courtesy of an impressive 28-14 win at Freebody Oval in a game where Kangaroos lock Troy Whiley was alleged to have eye gouged his opposite, No.13 Luke Turner.
Bulldogs captain Daniel York confronted Whiley on the field after one of the many incidents in the heated contest.
''There was a bit of an eye gouge, I don't think they were too happy about being behind,'' York said.
''Once the game was over it spilled over, but nothing too serious.
''We had a couple blokes finish with cuts around the noses, a couple blokes not happy with the work they were doing on the ground, so hopefully they [the judiciary] take a look at that.''
Kangaroos skipper Aaron Gorrell didn't comment on the alleged eye gouge, but said his side played into the Bulldogs' hands by committing stupid errors.
''It turned into rubbish stuff going on everywhere that was allowed to let go,'' Gorrell said. ''There was no control in the whole game and it could have been stopped earlier than that.
''It didn't cost us the game … but there were some other people that were poor, too, without naming names.''
The officials had their hands full from the start, Turner and Kangaroos prop Jeff Donald exchanging punches in the first few minutes.
But the turning point came when the Bulldogs scored three unanswered tries while Kangaroos fullback Daniel Watt was in the sin-bin for a professional foul mid-way through the first half.
Watt had pulled off a brilliant try-saving tackle, but was marched for holding up the play.
The Bulldogs didn't look back from then, building on their 18-4 half-time lead to record their third win from four games.
Second-rower York led from the front with a superb two-try effort, while former Raiders under-20s hooker Ben Picker had a hand in everything at dummy-half.
In a further blow for the Kangaroos, centre Josh Atkinson is expected to miss at least a month with a suspected torn medial ligament in his knee.
Meanwhile, the Queanbeyan Blues bounced back from last week's loss to Woden Valley with a 40-20 thumping of the Gungahlin Bulls, the Belconnen United Scholars held off the Tuggeranong Bushrangers 30-20 and Woden Valley thrashed West Belconnen 74-18.