A 39-year-old former Carlton player is Ainslie's secret weapon as they set their sights on a fourth consecutive premiership.
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Jordan Doering made his debut for Carlton 18 years ago and now finds himself playing for the Ainslie Tricolours - and boy has he made an impact already.
Doering has been on Ainslie coach Chris Rourke's radar for 12 years and he has taken just four games to show their AFL Canberra rivals why.
The full-forward has already scored 18 goals, including three in the 57-point victory over the Queanbeyan Tigers at Alan Ray Oval on Saturday.
The 13.14 (92) to 4.11 (35) victory is Ainslie's fifth on the trot and it sees them move one game clear at the top of the ladder.
Doering played 18 games at Carlton before shifting to the VFL following the 2002 season and he spent last season as an assistant coach at North Melbourne in the state league.
Rourke says the former Blue is hitting all the right notes in Canberra to cap off Ainslie's search for a veteran presence.
"I tried to get him about 12 years ago, he's always been a very good player and he came in this year and offered his services to see if he could help us," Rourke said.
"We've got a pretty young side and big forwards that we thought needed a bit of education and Jordan came in and he's been a really good inclusion for us.
"He certainly organises our forwards a lot with his experience."
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Doering is modest about the impact he has had but he has been a goal-scoring machine having booted nine goals in last week's victory against Eastlake.
"I was lucky to have a day out last week, it doesn't happen every week but if I can contribute and kick a few goals then that's great. Us winning is the main thing and that's what it's all about," Doering said.
"I'm an old stager, I'm 39 so it was all planned to play the back half of the year.
"We've had a bit of a rough run with injuries, like all clubs, but then you go and find someone to replace the injured.
"We've been really lucky guys have stepped up really well and hopefully we will get some players back over the next few weeks and make a good run for it in September."
Both sides will feature at the business end of the season, and this bout echoes Belconnen player-coach James Bennett's words last week - put in anything less than a four-quarter effort and "you're going to get beaten".
There was only one point in it after the first quarter, but from there Ainslie didn't miss a beat. Rourke believes they learnt their lesson after Queanbeyan won by 62 points in their last meeting.
"I think we were much better at the contested footy. I thought we moved the ball really well and the contested footy is where it's won," Rourke said.
Queanbeyan coach Adrian Pavese knows the team have a lot to work on ahead of their short turnaround against Gungahlin next Friday.
"I think Chris coached really well, he had a real plan for us. Unfortunately we just kept turning it over, where the last time we played them we were really clean with our skill level and we hit the targets," Pavese said.
"Today we had 23 turnovers under no pressure, where we gave the ball straight back to them. You can't do that against the reigning premiers."
AT A GLANCE
AFL Canberra round 10
AINSLIE TRICOLOURS 13.14 (92) bt QUEANBEYAN TIGERS 4.11 (35)
BELCONNEN MAGPIES 28.14 (182) bt GUNGAHLIN JETS 7.6 (48)
EASTLAKE DEMONS 21.11 (137) bt TUGGERANONG HAWKS 8.3 (51)