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Josh Papalii was sent off for a high shot but the Canberra Raiders rallied in a comeback 20-18 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs in Brisbane.
Canberra have defied a Josh Papalii send-off that could see him rubbed out of Queensland's State of Origin opener and a Jack Wighton sin-binning to run down Canterbury 20-18.
The Raiders led 8-0 at halftime at Suncorp Stadium but, outnumbered and after a cumulative 93-8 scored against them in the second stanza of their last five games, looked set to be swallowed up again as the Bulldogs scored twice to hit the lead.
Trent Barrett's men enjoyed a two-man advantage for three minutes after Wighton had been binned for a cannonball tackle on Adam Elliott and Papalii's shoulder rocked Tuipuloto Katoa with 19 minutes to play.
Josh Hodgson was also placed on report for twisting the arm of Luke Thompson in a tackle as Ricky Stuart's men appeared to be unravelling.
But the Raiders rallied while down a man, Curtis Scott scoring in the right corner and George Williams nailing the conversion to reclaim the lead.
Sebastian Kris then streaked through for another - Caleb Aekins assisting for the third time - to push the Raiders eight points clear with eight minutes to play.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak slid over the line and, two points down after the conversion, gave the Bulldogs 14 seconds to conjure a miracle that never materialised.
"It was a very difficult, day, ugly day," Stuart said.
"I think I mocked them because I said (pre-game) 'we might be down one, we might be down two. Let's show what type of spirit we've got.'
"And we were down; it just shows you, and I've said it for a number of weeks, our joint's not broken.
"Down to 11, the players turned, it was a completely different football team."
Papalii's send-off - the NRL's second this season - and Wighton's sin-bin followed eight sin-bins across two games on Friday to kick-start Magic Round.
Even a grade two dangerous contact charge would see Papalii miss next month's State of Origin opener if he took the early guilty plea, thanks to two other charges inside the last year.
Officials had given the order to crack down on high tackles and repeat ruck infringements, NRL football boss Graham Annesley confirming before play on Saturday it would continue as part of their latest adjustment to clean up the game.
There was a rare sense of calm in a routine first half, Corey Harawira-Naera with the only try as the Raiders' scrambling defence and some Bulldogs fumbles prevented a reply.
They finally found the line through Nick Cotric, before the Raiders temporarily lost Wighton and conceded again when Nick Meaney hit a gap on the left edge.
They were left ruing a host of half-breaks and near misses though as the Raiders (4-6) snapped a five-game losing streak and the Bulldogs sunk to 1-9.
Barrett lamented some tactical and skill errors while they had the numerical advantage.
"We were in a position to win, but weren't good enough or composed enough," he said.
