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WAGGA City gets the chance to put a gap between it and one of its biggest rivals when it meets South Wagga at Wagga Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The Cats' unbeaten start to the year has helped them open up an 11-point advantage over fourth-placed South Wagga ahead of the grand final replay.
South Wagga has experienced an indifferent start to the season but Wagga City captain Jon Nicoll knows his team will get a serious test from the Blues.
"This will certainly show us where we're at," Nicoll said.
"It's always good to play a quality team like South Wagga and I'm looking forward to it."
While Nicoll recognises the status of Saturday's match, he is not looking too much into either team's ladder position at this early stage of the season.
"I've never been real focused about where you finish and I think we proved that a couple of years ago when we finished fourth and went on to win it," he said.
"I place more emphasis on how you finish.
"Every game is hard to win, even though the scorecard might not show it, it's a real battle."
So instead of focusing on maximum points against South Wagga, Nicoll would rather see his players continue to improve as the season goes on.
"My view, more as a coach than a captain, is seeing guys develop, that's the big thing for me," he said.
"I want to see the guys develop, not have the same guys performing every week.
"I never put an emphasis on who we play, we just take it week to week and try to build towards the end of the year."
Wagga City will welcome back all-rounder Aaron Maxwell for the showdown.
The Cats will be without Josh Thompson on the second day, due to representative duties, and use the opportunity to blood youngster Dan Rafter on Saturday week.
"We don't even know what our best side looks like at the moment," he said.
"That's a good thing."
South Wagga will be without captain Joel Robinson for the second day of the game, with Dylan Martin set to replace him.