A disastrous start from South Australia, in response to Victoria's first-innings 220, has their Sheffield Shield match back in the balance at stumps on day one at the MCG.
The Redbacks' first innings stalled at 4-81 after 27 overs and they trail the Bushrangers by 139 runs.
Challenging opening spells from Peter Siddle (1-23) and Jayde Herrick (1-27) provided the Bushrangers with the ammunition they needed, snaring a wicket apiece.
While Andrew McDonald (1-13) played his role perfectly, claiming the crucial wicket of Callum Ferguson after making a crucial knock of 72 for the Bushrangers earlier in the day.
Ferguson's attempted drive on the up darted straight to Cameron White at second slip.
McDonald did not give the batsmen an inch (eight maidens), pinning them down with a nagging line and forcing them into uncharacteristic strokes.
Siddle was especially tough to handle, making the batsmen play and miss at regular intervals.
In the end, he was rewarded for his consistency with the wicket of James Smith (eight) who was caught by a diving Robert Quiney in the gully.
That brought South Australian captain Michael Klinger to the crease with the score at 1-23.
Klinger was eager to build on his side's momentum in the game, and he looked to be in some serious touch, dishing out four boundaries.
But a violent swoosh outside off-stump brought Klinger back to earth, only managing to edge it through to wicketkeeper Ryan Carters off Herrick.
South Australian opener Thomas Stray (29) was patient in his knock, before left-armer Will Sheridan (1-15) nipped one back to scrape the inside edge on its way through to the keeper.
The wicket of Tom Cooper (12 not out) looms as a pivotal one in determining the outcome of the match.
Earlier, the Redbacks rolled the Bushrangers for 220, with paceman Joe Mennie snaring 5-42 in an impressive display.