On the last weekend of spring the Northern Jets travel to Gumly Oval, where they intend to prove they're in for a big winter.

After knocking over North Wagga at home two weeks ago, the Jets then moved to fifth with a percentage boosting win against Temora last week.

But Avis is clear that they don't plan to spend the next 10 weeks battling for the last finals spot..

"I feel like we've got a really big opportunity," Avis said.

"I know they've got a couple of key injuries at East Wagga and we seem to travel over there pretty well. We don't have too bad a record there. With our tails up, it'll be a good test for us.

"If we can go over there and put in a good performance, we take that next step and we're competitors then. We're not just trying to scrape into the five.

"We've got a bit of belief with the young blokes at the moment. But we've made the point clear that if we don't make finals this year, we're very disappointed. To us, it'll be a bit of a waste of a year."

The Jets had a long, hard look at themselves after being thumped at home by The Rock-Yerong Creek three weeks ago.

Avis said that helped hammer home to a young squad exactly what's required.

"They've taken it to heart and they're responding really well, which is great," he said

"At 29, I'm the second oldest player in the team (behind 250-gamer Chris Bell).

"I've never played in a team where that's one of the old blokes.

"A lot of the guys popping up and playing well for us each week, I forget they're only 18- and 19-year-olds.

"So that belief is really important."

Three straight wins (for the first time since 2016), and a second away win in Wagga this month, would do wonders for confidence.

The Jets are a win behind the Hawks. But they have Charles Sturt University ready to tip them out of the five if they lose.

And on a weekend when second and third (The Rock-Yerong Creek and North Wagga) also meet, the stakes are high in the battle for top three spots too.

"It's crucial that we keep up and about to see the results of that belief," Avis said.

"We don't want to be thereabouts. We want to continue to build and be firmly in finals."

The Jets lost at Gumly in 2019 but did upset the Hawks at home in 2017 and 2018.

That made it three straight wins at the ground, after a 2016 semi-final victory against TRYC there too.

Coincidentally, that was the last time the Jets won three games in a row (earning a spot in the preliminary final, which they lost in golden point), and the last time they played finals.

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