The Bulldogs were too strong for Huntly in the preliminary final at Elmore to win by 28 points, 17.10 (112) to 12.12 (84).

North Bendigo will now take on Leitchville-Gunbower in the grand final next Saturday – just as the Bulldogs did last year.

It’s the second year in a row the Bulldogs have made their way through to the grand final after losing the qualifying final first-up, which they did to the Hawks a fortnight earlier by nine points.

The defining period of Saturday’s win was an eight-minute onslaught from the Bulldogs during the second term.

Between the eight and 16-minute marks of the quarter on the back of their midfield running riot the Bulldogs slammed on five unanswered goals through Barnes, Brady Herdman, Blayne Ryan-Storey, Aarryn Craig and captain Jordan Ford to assume control.

At that stage the Bulldogs led by 37 points, 7.5 to 1.4, as the game was already threatening to fizzle out well before half-time.

Consecutive goals to Huntly’s Harry Whittle and Tom Paterson breathed some life back into the contest, but not for long as Barnes kicked the last two of the term to give the Bulldogs a 37-point buffer at half-time, 9.6 to 3.5.

The Bulldogs’ advantage grew to a game-high 49 points after they kicked three of the first four goals of the third term, including another two to Barnes.

While the margin threatened to balloon right out, the Hawks offered some resistance in the final term, and for a brief period looked like they could pull off a miraculous comeback.

The Hawks got on a roll and trimmed the margin back to 22 points, and looked set to cut it back to 16 when Jacob Greenwood took a mark in the goalsquare.

But he was paid a free kick against for a marking infringement, and Barnes soon after kicked his ninth goal to wrest back the momentum, before later booting his 10^th with a set-shot.

Barnes’ 10 goals included one in the first quarter, three in the second, two in the third and four in the last.

“Barnesy has been fantastic for us all year and built himself up for today,” Bulldogs coach Rob Bennett said.

“He’s a real leader of our forward line and I couldn’t fault him today.”

A feature of the Bulldogs’ play was their set-shot goalkicking in which they nailed most of their opportunities, while it was a game of missed chances for the Hawks.

The Hawks’ first four scoring shots of the game were all behinds, while they also kicked four-straight behinds during the third quarter and had 5.10 on the board at three quarter-time.

The Hawks straightened up in the last quarter with 7.2, but they didn’t convert when it mattered.

Barnes was a clear best-on-ground for the Bulldogs as he took his season tally to 85 goals.

The classy Jarrod Findlay was superb in the midfield, Darcy Richards in his return to the side was a constant source of drive off half-back in his best game of the season, while Alex Shipard did a fine job in his run-with role on Hawks’ star Ryan Semmel.

A fortnight earlier Semmel kicked seven goals in the qualifying final, but none on Saturday.

The Bulldogs got through the game unscathed and will now turn their sights to the Bombers and a crack at back-to-back flags.

“The guys are obviously happy with today, but now it’s all about getting ready for next week… we’ve been there before and we know what to expect,” Bennett said.

The best player for the Hawks was defender Chris Gleeson, who kept Bulldogs’ star Herdman to two goals.

Consistent backman Josh Harris and wingman Phil Ryan were also among the best for the Hawks, who had Whittle as their leading goalkicker with four.

“North got that roll-on during the second quarter for 10 or 15 minutes and when they do, they are hard to stop,” Huntly coach Jamie Hogan said.

“Obviously, Barnesy was in great form and he’s very hard to stop when the ball is coming in under no pressure.

“It’s disappointing to bow out today, but we’ve improved on last year, which is a positive and there’s a good vibe around the club.”

All five Huntly teams that played in preliminary finals on Saturday were beaten.