The Bulldogs kicked 5.3 to 0.0 in the opening term before going on to win by 49 points, cruising home 13.14 (92) to 6.7 (43).

“We got off to a really good start and probably had control of the game from then on,” Bulldogs coach Kyle Raven said.

“But we may have taken the foot off the pedal in the second half.

“You’ve got players probably keeping one eye on next week not wanting to get injured ... that’s just human nature.”

Raven said the Bulldogs had put emphasis on their pressure and ball movement.

“In the first quarter our pressure and movement of the ball was really good,” he said.

“We had an open forward line, so there was plenty of space for our forwards to lead into.

“We definitely planned it that way and wanted to get a good start — we played Whorouly in the last home and away game and our start probably wasn’t as we would have hoped.

“So it was about the tackles and pressure around the ball and the ball carrier, putting their players under pressure and getting clean ball into their forward line.”

Tarrawingee’s backline has been in good form all year and the elimination final was just another good example.

“A lot of drive and attack comes from our backline,” Raven said.

Ben Bell was an important contributor for the Bulldogs, while Trevor Edwards was impressive all day at centre half-back.

“We got a lot of attack out of Edwards and he stopped a lot of their attacks with strong marks,” Raven said.

“Jordan Solimo kicked three goals and played through the midfield and saw a fair bit of the footy.”

The Bulldogs face Bright next weekend after the Mountain Men comfortably defeated Bonnie Doon by 44 points yesterday on the back of a nine-goal second term.

Co-coach Regan Alexander said the Mountain Men overcame a slow start.

“We’re very happy with the boys’ effort and we played some good footy in the middle two quarters,” he said.

“It’s the first finals win for a lot of these guys, it’s a young group so it’s great experience for them.

“Now we’ve got Tarrawingee — they got the better of us both times this year so we’ll be looking to rectify a few things.”