With just four games remaining, the Blaze are fourth on the ladder after last week’s 25-point loss to Bathurst, in their last home game of the season.

It was only their third loss in eight games, and they have a game in hand on third-placed Maitland.

But the Blaze face a tough run home, including a double-header in Minto next week against the team above them (Maitland) and the team below (fifth-placed Coffs Harbour). 

With a trip to Bathurst in the last round, Blaze coach Peter O’Leary admits the pressure is on.

“We have to basically win this weekend and at least knock over one of the teams in Minto and hopefully that’ll be enough to get us through,” O’Leary said.

“But all we’ve got to do at the moment is try and beat Goulburn.

“They’re a different team to (the top two sides) Bathurst or Shoalhaven, in that they’re a young-ish team like us. And they play a similar style to us, in that they run-and-gun and they’ve got a few outside shooters. So we need to play reasonably hard out on the perimeter and contain their shooters.”

Promising development player Jessica Sommerfield has been called up again with Claudia Barton and Tara Horn both unavailable. 

O’Leary said there were no excuses after last week’s loss to a red-hot, physical, and very experienced Bathurst side. 

“The worst thing that happened to us was half-time,” he said. 

“We were playing okay, up at quarter-time and level at half-time, and for some obscure reason when we came out after half-time we dropped the ball and things weren’t going our way.”

The game got away from Wagga in the third quarter but O’Leary believes Bathurst are the team to beat this year and the Blaze can take heart from their first half effort.