This is the West Belconnen Warriors coach that said "we as a club expect better" in the midst of their unbeaten run earlier this year, that said his side was "terrible" in a 40-point win over the reigning premiers.

It means West Belconnen must have been pretty impressive in a 28-12 win over the Goulburn Bulldogs in the Canberra Raiders Cup at Kippax Oval on Sunday.

They did it without Tim Sloman (overseas), Tevita Aroha-Tuinauvai (injured) and Jackson Duffey and Harry Brown (music festival) against a Bulldogs outfit blooding three under 18s players.

Rarely are West Belconnen out of the top four. The truth is, they've been impressive just about all year.

"We've had a few injuries and a couple of blokes pulled out [on Saturday] so that was a big loss for us," Thompson said.

"We called on four or five reserve grade players and they played pretty well actually which was good. It was just good to get a win on the books and get our confidence back.

"Beau McFarlane played well in his debut, Destiny Kalolo and Tim Middleton played pretty well as well.

"We've got a huge test next week, Yass have a bigger side so it will be a big test for our forwards, we've probably got the smallest team in the forward pack. The next three games are crucial games for us so we can hopefully build some momentum for the finals."

The Bulldogs drew first blood and the two sides traded scoring opportunities before the hosts ran in four unanswered tries to maintain a one-point buffer over the fourth-placed Woden Valley Rams on the ladder.

The contest was soured by a 73rd minute melee sparked by a high and late shot on Warriors five-eighth Lachlan Keeley that saw Goulburn lock Tyson Greenwood and his West Belconnen counterpart Bayley Loughhead sin-binned.

The top four is almost set in stone with three rounds remaining in the regular season, with the Tuggeranong Bushrangers placing one hand on the minor premiership as they edge closer to a landmark club championship.

Behind them are the Queanbeyan Kangaroos, West Belconnen and an in-form Woden Valley Rams outfit that hasn't tasted defeat in 10 weeks.

The Warriors snapped a two-game losing streak to edge closer to a home minor semi-final while Adam Kyle's Bulldogs continue their rebuild in his first year in charge.

"We knew this season was always going to be a bit of a work in progress, just because of the players we had leave from last year," Kyle said.

"We had eight experienced first graders with over 50 or 60 first grade games leave, and while we've replaced them with good quality first grade players, we've also replaced them with a couple of young kids too who in the next couple of seasons will become very strong.

"It's a learning process for them and this was one of those times, with a couple of older heads on our shoulders we would probably get the win."

AT A GLANCE

Canberra Raiders Cup round 15:

QUEANBEYAN KANGAROOS 42 (F Tonga 2, T Henderson, B Crisp, B Cronan, J Hitchins, N Ngere, R Tuckwell tries; B Crisp 5 goals) bt QUEANBEYAN BLUES 34 (J Stuckey, J Williams, D Barrie, J Baker, Z Bijorac, T Stevens tries; T Campese 4, J Baker goals).

WODEN VALLEY RAMS 22 (C Hodge 2, D Spencer, A Vivili, L Withers tries; L Withers goals) bt GUNGAHLIN BULLS 6.

TUGGERANONG BUSHRANGERS 22 (J Martin 2, A Tupou 2, L Tuicakau tries; L Oakley goal) bt BELCONNEN UNITED SHARKS 16 (C McAskill 2, M Woolnough tries; M Woolnough 2 goals).

WEST BELCONNEN WARRIORS 28 (M Campbell, T Moa, R Thomas, J Graham, B McFarlane tries; L Keeley 4 goals) bt GOULBURN BULLDOGS 12 (J Aubusson, Z Hart tries; C Hart 2 goals).