They inherited clubs in tatters but Kevin Moore and Daniel Anderson are now just two wins from an NRL premiership.

And as they sat together at a joint media conference on Thursday, ahead of a preliminary final showdown at ANZ Stadium, they could both reflect on how they had resuscitated their clubs, the Bulldogs and Parramatta.

Moore's efforts in reviving a wooden spoon outfit still reeling from the walk-out of their best player, Sonny Bill Williams, and rebuilding "the family club" made him the Dally M coach of the year.

"We put last year behind us very quickly," he said on Thursday.

" ... There's obviously a handful of players that were here last year and for them I think it's tremendous that they've been able to get away from that very quickly because it was such a disappointing year.

"It's a new team and we always said at the start of the year we're not going to put any specific goals on where we might finish, we're just going to put our heads down, we're going to work hard and hopefully that will take us a fair way and it has."

Anderson's mid-season turnaround of the Eels has likewise been well documented.

But his original mission had been to solve the puzzle of why talent-laden Parramatta could only manage 11th a year after stretching eventual premiers Melbourne in the second last week of 2007.

He was still looking for answers when the Eels lost five of their first seven.

"Just because you don't win doesn't mean that you don't enjoy it," he said of his early rounds at the helm.

"I thought our attitude and effort changed dramatically.

"The aim was to build the club, to make it go forward, just to try and take small steps forward as a club."

Coaches dissect every movement of an opposition player, but the same doesn't hold true for their opposite numbers.

"I don't dissect the other coaches," Anderson said. "I enjoy the rivalry."

Moore was then asked the same question. "The same," he dead-panned.

But their strategies will be vastly different as they try to keep their minds off footy during the daytime on Friday.

"I actually quite often have a game (of golf) on a Friday so if the weather's nice tomorrow I might go and have a leisurely nine holes," Moore said.

" ... It's important that ... you just stay relaxed and you turn up tomorrow night showing the boys that you're quietly confident."

Anderson prefers domestic chores.

"I did my hedges and the garden last week ... tomorrow I'll probably do the pool, it's got a few leaves and a little bit of dust in it," he said.

"The car looks like it's been out at the sheep station too so (it's good to) keep occupied, pretty mundane household chores.

" ... (Then it's) dress well, look good, speak well and enjoy what you can on the night."

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