Bulldogs' height at both ends of the court, particularly their defensive end with Kate Burns and Brooke Burgess, proved a tough obstacle for Nova to overcome and the Verdelho women came away 50-28 winners.

Burns said it was great for the team to play a lot of flowing netball despite some new connections being tested.

"It was a very social game today and one of our aims as a team this year is to turn up and have a bit of fun. It was nice to have a game like that this week," she said.

"We had a height advantage across the court today which certainly helps. One thing we're working on is our combinations because this is the first week where we've had the same seven players on the court the whole game.

"Three of our girls picked up ankle injuries in the first two rounds and two of them are still out so we're still trying to work out some of those combinations. It was nice to have a good run today and see some of those combinations starting to work."

Bulldogs got off to a brilliant start by scoring eight of the first 10 points of the match, and were quick to capitalise on a couple of loose passes from Nova.

Shooting accuracy was high from the Bulldogs as they got out to an 18-8 lead at the first break.

Defence was the name of the game in a low scoring second quarter, where Bulldogs outscored Nova 9-6, and every point became much harder for each side to earn.

Defence from Nova improved markedly in the middle quarters.

Mandy Hotham picked up key defensive rebounds over the top of Bulldogs' attacking duo Alisha Glasgow and Brook McInnes while Genna McAulley snared several intercepts when Verdelho got lazy with their passing.

But Bulldogs wing attack Cassie Pearce and centre Molly Dowling were still able to put their shooters into strong positions throughout the game, especially during a dominant fourth quarter.

Bulldogs won that period 11-4 to give them confidence ahead of a big clash against defending champions Collegians Mystified next round.