The late inclusion of Adam Clune at the scrum-base helped spark the Eagles’ best 40 minutes of the season to lead 16-0 at halftime on the back of tries to Ali Allouche, Luke Westman and Jake Ecclestone.

They led 20-0 when Sam Simmons crossed just over a minute into the second stanza but barely sighted Collies end of the park for the remainder of the match.

Jarrod Thompson hit back eight minutes later before a glut of possession for the visitors saw Cameron Scott, Ben Jones and Blake Phillips all cross in the final 14 minutes to level-up at 20-all.

With the game on the line, Jarrod Boyle snapped the crucial field goal for a 21-20 lead with 90 seconds left, before Fletcher Winning booted a penalty goal after the siren to bring the final score to 23-20.

Dogs coach Nathan Fien conceded his side were lucky to leave Berkeley Sports Ground with the two points, with the performance a timely wake-up call heading into the second half of the season.

“It’s great we were able to dig ourselves out of the hole we were in but I thought, for the majority of the game, Berkeley were hands down the better side,” Fien said.

“It’s always hard coming off a two-week lay-off but we can’t sugar-coat our performance or hide from the fact Berkeley were really good.

“They challenged us for the full 80. We were good enough in the end but it just shows you can’t take your foot off the gas in terms of your performance in this competition.

“They’re a quality side and they’re doing some really good things. I’m happy to get the win but we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve definitely got a lot of work to do.” 

It was a case of so near yet so far for Eagles coach Aaron McDonald.

“I think our effort was really good today and our execution was really good,” McDonald said.

“What wasn’t impressive was that they got that roll on in the second half and we couldn’t stop it. At the end of the day you need to be able to stop those things to win games of footy.

“I don’t think we touched the ball and awful lot in the second half. They just seemed to get set after set and I think our boys defended really well.

“We really stood up to their attack and all their tries came on the back of three or four sets on our try-line. Unfortunately fatigue got us in the end.”

It was a bitter pill but, with a full round of games to come, the performance against the reigning premiers could prove the turning point to propel them towards a finals berth.

“I think over the last three or four weeks we’ve had a few sides looking over their shoulder,” McDonald said.

“Next round we won’t be able to surprise sides as much but I’ve got no doubt we can beat the sides above us and we need to do it now if we’re going to make the semi-finals.”