The Bulldogs squeezed into fourth spot by .03 per cent after matching ACL and Perth's win-loss tallies of 5-7, while the Chieftains enter finals on the huge high of becoming the first team to beat Longford in a 40-over game. 

Cressy was bowled out for 44 when the two sides last met, but will relish the tag of underdog as it looks to forge a path to a second grand final in as many years.

"We really don’t deserve to be there the way we’ve played this season, but at the end of the day we’ve won enough games to be there," Whybrow said. 

"[Hadspen are] a very professional outfit and we would have to play at our best to beat them.

"They’ve got the best batsman in the comp and the best bowler in the comp so my boys have got to be on if we want to go another round.

"I just hope we can click this week to be honest - whatever way it is we’ve got to bat our 40 overs out."

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The Chieftains kept a lid on their win over Longford last weekend and have no plans to remove it before Saturday. 

Captain-coach Liam Reynolds said he was pleased with his side's lead-in form but also pointed out it would mean nothing should the Chieftains be bundled out in the first round of finals. 

"It’s always good to go into finals with winning momentum because its very cut-throat from hereon in for us," Reynolds said.

"We obviously need to put in another strong performance because Cressy are quite a strong side and anything can happen - cricket’s a funny game and being finals it’s do or die for us.

"All our playing group have put in some really hard yards over the pre-season and through the season so that should hold us in good stead for the finals series."

LONGFORD just missed out on completing an unbeaten 40-over campaign but its focus remains on securing a fourth-straight premier league title. 

Captain-coach Josh Adams said the Country Tigers had fallen 30 to 40 runs short of posting a competitive total against Hadspen, but were confident of returning to top form on their home ground against Trevallyn. 

"It was a little bit disappointing but it was a hard-fought game of cricket," he said.

"No-one likes to lose any week but it was a good finals-type game and it went a good 75 overs so it was pleasing to play a good hard game going into this week regardless of the result.

"We identified after the game that our batting wasn’t there but we’re back on our home ground this week and we always play the Longford oval pretty well."

The strength of Trevallyn's top five has been well-publicised and was brought to the fore again last round as captain James Whiteley, Daniel Kirk and Clinton Reid all posted 50s.

No side has scored more runs than Whiteley's outfit and even going into the first round of finals, Trevallyn has exceeded external expectations in its first season in the premier league.

"Everyone seems happy this stage but obviously the job’s not done and we’ve got two teams playing finals this week," Whiteley said.

"I think it shows the strength of the club that we haven’t gone out and outlaid a heap of capital and bought a heap of players - we’re focused on getting people to the club who want to be there for the right reasons and it shows that we’ve got success across all our grades."