Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore realises that consistency is no longer good enough.

After watching fellow season pacesetters St George Illawarra and the Gold Coast get bundled out of the NRL finals, Moore is adamant his side won’t make the same mistakes and will step up to finals intensity against a red-hot Parramatta side in the preliminary final on Friday night.

The Dragons and Titans were both guilty of failing to lift above their regular season level in the finals, but Moore says his side is completely different to their vanquished rivals.

“(The Dragons) lost five of their last six and I think we’ve won eight of our last 10 so we’ve got good form, we’re confident and we know we need to take it to another level but I’m confident we can do that,” said Moore.

“We’ve been consistent all year and there’s been a number of occasions of big games during the year and we’ve performed really well.

“I’m confident the boys will be ready to go to another level this week.

“Our preparation is going to be based on making sure we’re good. We are certainly aware of what they do and we will focus on some parts of their game that we need to contain but the focus for us is making sure we’re at the top of our game.”

The one time Moore felt his men didn’t turn up was nine weeks ago when Parramatta stunned the Dogs at ANZ Stadium to claim a 27-8 victory.

It was the start of the re-birth for the Eels as that win was victory number two in a run which now stands at nine wins from their last 10 games.

“The biggest thing we took out of it and we learnt the next week was we didn’t turn up with the right intensity,” recalled Moore.

“It’s one of the very few occasions this year where we weren’t on our game. I don’t think that game is any indicator of what will happen this week.”

If there is anything going against the Bulldogs it’s the fact their run to the grand final qualifier has been remarkably easier than the Eels sudden-death adventure.

Since they went head-to-head on July 25, the Bulldogs have only faced one top eight team in seven games and that was in their 26-12 qualifying final win over an injury-depleted Newcastle side two weeks ago.

The Eels meanwhile have walked a tight-rope over the final half of 2009 knowing one loss could end their season.

Moore ensured his men wouldn’t lose any conditioning with their weekend off playing by running an opposed session against their NSW Cup side in Sydney on Sunday.

Halfback Brett Kimmorley and centre Jamal Idris completed the session and Moore declared they would both be fit to play in Friday’s showdown.

“It’s not a time to be having time off in my opinion,” said Moore.

“It was a good opportunity to do things at game speed and have a bit of defence against you … a good chance to work on your timing and defence combinations.

“Everybody will be fine (to play) this week.”