Not because of the scoreline, as such, but because of the way Roos’ colts brought it up.

The Dubbo boys were starved of possession throughout the first stanza, but remarkably converted each of the three uses they had of the ball in Lions’ territory to storm to a 18-nil half-time lead.

The boys in blue then kicked on with it in the second period to book the first slot in the Blowes Clothing Cup colts grand final, which will be at Endeavour Oval again in two weeks.

“Patience at the end of the day, we knew what ball we did get we had to make the most of and we did that in the first half. We were patient, waited for it, and capatilised when we had it,” Berryman said.

Blindside flanker Hamish Smith was brilliant for Roos, while Berryman and five-eighth Aiden Griffin were instrumental in rocketing the Dubbo club to an early lead.

Berry said his side hadn’t hit its straps leading into the semi-finals, but would prepare for the grand final confident of peaking in the big dance.

“Most of the boys have played a couple of grand finals already, we’re all the same age, but we’re super keen, straight in and hopefully we have a couple of good weeks at training,” he added.

“We came in level headed, the is the first time we’ve had a full squad at training and we didn’t know what to expect but you could tell the boys were up for it and keen for it, and you could tell that by today.”

Meanwhile, a hugely-experienced Bulldogs outfit progressed through to the second grade decider after a commanding 31-10 win over Roos.

Scott Johnston, Liam Berry, Tyler Cook, Phil Tonkin and Riley Hanrahan all scored tries for the minor premiers as they skipped away, the latter’s a slashing effort down the right touchline to post the Dogs’ only try of the second stanza.