Orange Emus secure 2019 Westfund Ferguson Cup minor premiership

"We definitely had thought about the minor premiership, of course we had," she laughed, her side claiming top spot with their 66-nil win over the Wombats on Saturday.

"Winning that game was the first priority and I didn't want the girls thinking about it too much, but we were under the impression we needed to win with a bonus point and by a certain margin too, so there had been some discussion around it.

"In the end we only needed to win the game though and we did that."

Emus claimed the women's minor premiership from second-placed West Wyalong, finishing level on competition points but edging out the Redbacks by way of winning one more game throughout the regular season.

Although there's no home ground advantage to speak of in the opening week of the finals because all four of the top eight games are set to be at Molong prior to the Magpies' Oilsplus Cup Northern Division preliminary final, Ferguson said it's a nice confidence boost for the greens.

"It's pretty exciting, we're all pretty stoked to tick that box, although we'd have just been happy with a top four spot to get that second chance," she said.

"It's really exciting to have been able to win it considering the way we've rebuilt. We did pretty well in terms of the ladder last year but there were times when we struggled for players, but this year we've consistently had 15 or more every week and that's made such a big difference.

"We've welcomed a lot of new girls into the side and they've been great, it's just been a really year so far and we're hoping to build on it from now on."

Emus will face fourth-placed Temora while West Wyalong will play the third-finishing Bathurst Bulldogs, the defending premiers, in the two qualifying finals.

CSU Bathurst take on Mudgee in the fifth-versus-eighth elimination final, while surprise packets Forbes and Narromine clash in the other sudden-death, the two sides finished sixth and seventh respectively in their inaugural seasons.

"I still look at Forbes as a really dangerous side, they've improved so much and they beat CSU by a big margin on the weekend," Ferguson said.

"I think any of those top sides could win it, genuinely. We beat Mudgee by quite a bit on the weekend but they were really tough and they probably beat us at the breakdown, and they've got a few really good players who have to come back into the side."

Despite being beaten at the ruck Emus' backline was classy enough to run in nine tries in the 66-point romp with fleet-footed five-eighth Nikki D'Aquino, incredibly, scoring half of a dozen of them on her own.

Halfback Em McDonald crossed for one as well and nailed eight of her nine shots at goal to boot, the young halves duo accounting for 51 of Emus' points.

"Far out, it was pretty incredible to watch Nikki and Em control the game the way they did on Saturday, I think they scored all our points in the first half," Ferguson said.