As their win streak continues to grow, so too does the Goulburn City Bulldogs' League Tag team's confidence about their chances in finals.
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The Bulldogs completed a 16-0 victory over the Queanbeyan Blues on Sunday to extend their streak to three consecutive wins.
It was far from an easy game for Goulburn, as consistent rain caused the field to became steadily slipperier.
After struggling to find their rhythm early in the competition, the side has grown more settled in recent games, a trend which was evident in their 12-0 win over the second-ranked Gungahlin Bulls in round 12.
"We've come off a good win two weeks ago against Gungahlin, so that was a bit of a confidence boost coming into this game and into finals," Bulldogs co-coach, Sophie Broadhead, said.
With just four more matches left in the regular season, Goulburn is all but certain to qualify for finals, along with Gungahlin, and the top-ranked West Belconnen Warriors.
At this point, Broadhead and her co-coach, Vaughan Winnel, have begun putting together a finals team, which the former said was "tough".
"We're still getting about 20-22 up to training every week, so we're now looking at a finals team," Broadhead said.
"It's a credit to the girls for all coming to training and putting in the effort, and I think that's why we are improving every game."
With a win over the Bulls among Goulburn's recent run of victories, the next target is West Belconnen, who are unbeaten in 2021 and undoubted premiership favourites.
"We came within six points of Westies in the last game we played against them," Broadhead said.
"We're close to them and we're pushing them. We've got nothing to lose come finals against Westies and Gungahlin, all the pressure's on them and not on us.
"If we can put it together, I think we'll win the comp."
But Broadhead is not getting ahead of herself. Before the finals roll around, the team has improvements to make over the next four games.
One such area the Bulldogs will target was on display on Sunday, when there was a noticeable drop-off in intensity in the second half which allowed the Blues to battle back into the game.
Though their defence was strong enough to rebuff Queanbeyan's attacks, Broadhead knows that Goulburn erred late in the match.
"We talked at half time about not dropping off, but we ended up dropping off," she said.
"But we didn't panic and kept in the grind, and on a day like today that's all you can do."
This Saturday,August 7, the Bulldogs take on the bottom-ranked Queanbeyan Kangaroos from noon at Seears Workwear Oval.
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