That’s Bathurst Bulldogs’ formula for success in Saturday’s Westfund Ferguson Cup preliminary final against minor premiers West Wyalong, as both sides look to keep their seasons alive.

There’s reason for confidence in Bulldogs’ camp too, halfback Mandy Scott says, because it’s an approach that reaped big rewards in last weekend’s minor semi-final, when her side dismantled Orange Emus 55-5.

“We just capitalised on getting the ball out wide, taking advantage of that with our speedsters, and otherwise the forwards were quite evenly matched,” she explained.

“It was a pretty tough game, but the score was surprising. Towards the end of the season you don’t expect a score like that.”

Scott expects the scoreboard to be less one-sided this Saturday, and says her side can upset the Redbacks again, Bulldogs were one of just two sides to beat them during the regular season.

“Our girls have been training quite well in the forwards and we've had the same tight forwards for about eight weeks running now,” Scott said.

“Our girls are really well-drilled in their attack and defence and they’re quite quick up onto the ball as well once we hit the deck. They really know how each other play now.

“We know they like to play it in the forwards, up the centre of the field, so we are going to probably try and do a similar game plan to last week.

“It does help out that we’ve played them before, it’s not like a team we haven’t seen.”

Saturday’s preliminary final will kick-off at 12.40pm.