Jack Pettit couldn't contain himself.
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Or at least he couldn't contain the two litres of milk he happened to be holding in the Dock pub when the Raiders beat the Sydney Roosters 22-18 last weekend to charge into the preliminary final.
Off came the top, up went the bottle and out came the Canberra Milk all over his mullet.
"There comes a time in every person's life when it's just the right thing to do," he said. "It was just so good to see the Raiders win."
He'll be sitting at the same table armed with bottles of milk when the Raiders play the Melbourne Storm on Friday night. A win will seal their spot in the grand final, and Pettit will celebrate with another milk shower.
Full cream or reduced fat? "Full cream. Full cream. You've got to go full cream," he confided.
The 28-year-old youth worker was stone-cold sober when he did it. He has a broken arm, which the doctor told him might not heal if he drank alcohol.
He took the milk to the pub and the rest was inevitable. "It seemed like an act of passion - and it was.
"But win, lose or draw, that milk was going over my head."
He said he thought he might have needed the extra calcium milk provides but that seems unlikely.
Pouring milk over your head isn't new. A bizarre craze swept across the UK almost a decade ago, with undergraduate students standing in public places and pouring milk over themselves.
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It is new, however, for Raiders fans. And it may have something to do with Canberra Milk's decision to jump back on board as a major sponsor for 2021. The company is a foundation Raiders sponsor.
It was chiselled into the minds of Raiders fans when Mal Meninga lifted the premiership trophy in 1994, prompting the creation of commemorative lime green milk and lime green everything else, including pies.
Former skipper Terry Campese even once agreed to sit in a bath of the green milk.
Milk has always been a thing for the Raiders, regardless of the main sponsor. The saying "Up the Milk!" has become popular in recent years as the team's standing, including outside Canberra, has risen.
When Jack took it literally last week, he said he hadn't alerted the pub - "I was expecting to get a red card" - but they helped him clear up the mess and have welcomed him back with a promise of his own table.
Far from banning Jack, former Wallaby Ben Alexander, landlord of The Dock, is welcoming him back, reserving him the same table.
"It's great how much people are getting behind the Raiders," he said.
He plans green beer if the Raiders reach the final plus all kinds of player-themed dishes and drinks on the menu like Papalii Punch after prop Josh Papalii.
The video of the baptism by milk has become something of a sensation. It's led to a hairdresser promising him a special Raiders hair cut. He's chosen to have his mullet transformed into a bottle of milk.
In the video, a woman behind Jack is seen rolling her eyes and nodding her head in incredulity.
"That's my brother's missus," he said. It's not his girlfriend: "You don't get girlfriends who put up with you bathing in milk."
Jack has been following the Raiders "hard out", as he puts it, for the past 10 years.
The milk will continue to flow.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
