The Queanbeyan Tigers celebrated Swan's 100^th first grade match with a thrilling 13.16 (94) to 12.6 (78) win over the Eastlake Demons on Sunday.

Queanbeyan sit comfortably on top of the AFL Canberra throne after round eight, but that means little to coach Adrian Pavese.

"We're just focusing on the way we're playing at the moment," Pavese said. "If we can grind out wins like that, it helps towards the business end of the year."

Both sides struggled to gain momentum in a see-sawing first half and Queanbeyan held a narrow two-point lead going into the break.

Brett Freund booted two goals consecutive goals from the 50-metre line early in the third quarter to give the Tigers some breathing space.

While Freund's efforts led to Queanbeyan's dominance in the second half, Pavese attributed their bounce back to a half-time grilling.

"We got quite animated at half-time and spoke about the fact that if you allow your player to go in, then don't let him go past you," Pavese said.

"We just had to fix up a couple of things defensively because they were getting around the back of us a little bit. That's what we felt was letting us down a little bit.

"It was a bit of a see-sawing game so to get on top at the end was pleasing."

Eastlake came back firing in the fourth quarter as Joseph Hancock kicked a goal within the first 50 seconds. But Queanbeyan were quick to respond as Lachlan Squire booted a six-pointer just two minutes later.

Bodies were thrown on the line as Eastlake narrowed the margin back to eight points after James Roberts scored with 10 minutes remaining.

But it was all too late as Queanbeyan refused to give up its hard-fought lead and Matthew Grocott kicked a winner to extend the margin.

"When the fight was there, certain guys stepped up at the right time which helped," Pavese said.

"We probably worked harder than we probably should have in terms of transition but you can't doubt their effort and that's something that we're really pleased with.

"We were in the fight early, we hung tough and then to come out on top was really good."

Meanwhile, centre-back Aiden Bowyer made his first grade debut for Queanbeyan. He captained their under-18' side last year.

AFL CANBERRA ROUND 8

Saturday: Ainslie Tricolours 23.14 (152) bt Gungahlin Jets 7.8 (50). Belconnen Magpies 23.16 (154) bt Tuggeranong Hawks 4.3 (27).

Sunday: Queanbeyan Tigers 13.16 (94) bt Eastlake Demons 12.6 (78).