Em McDonald and Jakiya Whitfield inspired their respective Orange Emus and Bathurst Bulldogs outfits to victory in Saturday afternoon's Westfund Ferguson Cup preliminary finals at Endeavour Oval, locking in a battle of the heavyweights in next weekend's grand final.
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Although it wasn't all smooth sailing the two sides have appeared to be a decider collision course for most of the 2019 season and McDonald's last-ditch penalty goal along with Whitfield's stunning, 31-point individual haul made that mouth-watering match-up a reality.
With her side trailing a fighting CSU Bathurst outfit 12-10 as full-time beckoned McDonald stepped up and coolly slotted a 17-metre penalty goal to secure a nail-biting, come-from-behind victory for the minor premiers in the first of Saturday's two finals.
WATCH: Em McDonald cements Emus' grand final berth with a last-ditch penalty goal...
In the second Whitfield continued her stunning form by running in five of Bulldogs' six tries and slotting three conversions to boot, helping the defending premiers hold off a late fightback from the Narromine Gorillas and seal a 38-22 win.
McDonald, who's recent rise landed her a spot in the ACT Brumbies' Super W squad this year, was a picture of relief after her shot sailed over the black dot too, after being "so bloody nervous" over the match-winning kick.
"I didn't realise it was full-time but I knew there couldn't have been much more than 30 seconds or so left, so I definitely knew it was either get the kick or the season was over. All I could think was 'don't bloody miss this'," she laughed.
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"I hit it pretty well though and it was a real relief to see it go over, because I knew how much it meant to all the girls to get the job done [on Saturday], everyone's so excited to be going to the grand final because we knew we had that in us."
McDonald did admit she thought it might not be her greens' day though.
The in-form students, who pushed through to the grand final qualifier with two massive sudden-death wins, enjoyed the run of play for most of the game.
All I could think was 'don't bloody miss this'.
- Em McDonald, on her match-winning penalty goal
They led 7-nil after Nicole Kennedy crossed on the stroke of quarter-time, her try coming on the back of a mountain of possession and some excellent retention.
Emus did hit back in the second term once they held some quality ball. Jacky Lyden scored and McDonald converted, and the latter nailed a penalty goal early in the third quarter to give the greens a 10-7 lead.
But the students kept coming and Jacinta Cooper's five-pointer just before the final break pushed the Bathurst side back in front at 12-10.
For the entire fourth quarter it looked as though CSU would hold on too, their defensive effort in the final term was superb and McDonald's penalty goal was virtually the only scoring opportunity her side had.
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"CSU were so tough, so tough. They're a great side and they played really well [on Saturday]," McDonald said, giving the students due credit.
"They play wide, they're pretty expansive and they've got a lot of speed and they used that against us, they went around us. We'll have to work on that this week because Bulldogs have that speed out wide too, especially with someone like Jakiya floating around the backline."
Whitfield did more than just float around the backline on Saturday though, exploding from the first minute as her Bulldogs rocketed to a 26-7 lead over the shellshocked Gorillas at quarter-time.
The Gorillas pegged one back in the second term although that was cancelled out by Kirsten Howard's try, and then gave themselves a sniff with an almighty third-quarter effort.
Bulldogs took their foot off the gas as Narromine started controlling possession and scored twice as a result, they slashed the gap to just 12 at three-quarter time and looked capable of going on with the monumental comeback.
It wasn't quite to be though, led by a huge effort in defence by skipper Mel Waterford Bulldogs held out the desperate Gorillas, before Whitfield capped the win with her fifth try as full-time loomed.
"They're a tough team, Narromine, they obviously developed so much over the year and they really pushed us [on Saturday]," she said, her Bulldogs hadn't faced the Gorillas in 2019 until the preliminary final.
"They were a well structured unit and played some great rugby, it was a really tough hit-out for us and fortunately our girls kept going back to what we do well and we managed to get the job done.
"It's always a tough game against Emus, so we'll have to do some really hard work at training this week. I'm confident if we can play our game next weekend then we'll be a really good shot."
- ORANGE EMUS 13 (Jacky Lyden try; Em McDonald conversion; McDonald 2 penalty goals) def CSU BATHURST 12 (Nicole Kennedy, Jacinta Cooper tries; Ash Bridge conversion)
- BATHURST BULLDOGS 38 (Jakiya Whitfield 5, Kirsten Howard tries; Whitfield 3, Kate Gullfier conversions) def NARROMINE GORILLAS 22 (Bec Smyth 2, Lakeisha Hull, Jess Brown tries; Smyth conversion)