The Northern Jets know Saturday week's showdown against Charles Sturt University could be the one that defines their season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Jets will relish a bye this week after a hard-fought win against Barellan on Saturday which, coupled with CSU's loss to Marrar, saw them go a win (plus percentage) clear of the Bushpigs on the ladder.
But coach Josh Avis knows that they need to deliver payback for a round four loss at Peter Hastie Oval. And not simply for revenge.
"I would have liked to beat CSU in the first round but we don't always have it our own way. But I'm feeling positive," Avis said, taking stock of the bigger picture heading into the bye with six games before finals.
"Our next game is against CSU and that game will probably make or break us I feel. I feel that we're in a good position but the job's not done. We're not home and hosed in finals and Barellan and Coly are knocking on the door as well.
"We've got a long way to go but it's a long time since the Jets have been in a spot where (the season) is about to go on the downhill slide and we're in fifth."
- The latest in local sports news is right here
The Jets' last final was the 2016 preliminary final loss to Coleambally in golden point extra time in 2016. The next two years, they finished sixth.
They've only strung together consecutive wins once this season, beating North Wagga and then Temora.
That upset over the Saints makes them one of only two teams, along with East Wagga-Kooringal (twice), to get the better of the defending premiers so far.
The Jets head to the bye on a high after a big finish against Barellan but Avis said they need to do something about their starts.
"We were a bit disappointed in our first half last week (against Marrar) but we thought our second half was pleasing," Avis said.
"So it was a little disappointing to start the same way this week (against Barellan).
"But knowing we don't have to hit panic stations (builds confidence). We just have to rev up and know that our style can take care of itself - it keeps us in games of footy and wins us games."
Fellow top five sides, Marrar, EWK and The Rock-Yerong Creek set up their wins last week with flying starts.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Sign up for our newsletters here
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News