Every match is a mini elimination final in the run home for Sunshine Heights in the Western Football League division 2 season.
The Dragons were in seventh spot heading into the weekend’s matches, after deadline, percentage behind fifth placed Braybrook and sixth placed Albanvale.
Only the top five sides will play finals.
Dragons coach Stephen O’Malley said while it wasn’t an ideal position to be in, they know their destiny is in their own hands.
“We have to keep on winning,” he said. “We’re taking each week as an elimination final.
“It is what it is and the guys are looking forward to the challenge.
“Making finals is what we want. We’re taking it one week at a time.”
O’Malley knows they have their challenges ahead of them in the last four rounds of the season.
They faced Laverton on the weekend, then face Braybrook (fifth), the Suns (fourth) and North Footscray (second) in the run home.
O’Malley said getting wins in the first of those two matches were vital in ensuring they played finals.
“It would give us some good momentum to make finals,” he said.
Sunshine Heights knows it still has work to do.
The Dragons were given a big scare against Tarneit in their most recent match against bottom side, Tarneit.
O’Malley said they had a few players out but gave credit to the Titans, who are still searching for their first win of the season.
“We didn’t come to play and were not in the right mindset,” he said. “We let a young Tarneit side get momentum.
“They’ve come a long way from the start of the season. It is really hard to stop momentum when a side hasn’t won a game, we got there in the end and took the four points.
“We’ll work on things this week.”
O’Malley said they need to make sure they were switched on no matter who they play in every game and every quarter.
The Dragons were set to get a few players back for their match against Laverton on Saturday.
They were able to get the win they were after, winning 18.10 (118)-10.7 (67).
O’Malley said they decided to give some players an extra week to come back from injuries instead of rushing them back.
“They’ve had some changes as well,” he said. “They pushed Braybrook last week and have some momentum.
“It’s on us to come out and play well. We didn’t play well against Laverton last time, so we want to get some redemption and see where we sit.”
