The Power upstaged Allansford by nine points at Noorat Recreation Reserve on Saturday to hit the second mid-season bye sixth on the ladder, with 28 points.

Nirranda (fifth) and South Rovers (seventh) also have 28 points while Old Collegians (fourth) are a game ahead with 32. Only two of the four will play finals.

The tight ladder means intrigue will be high in the last six weeks of the season. The four contenders play one of their rivals at least once in the run home.

Victory against the Cats means the Power can afford to drop one of their remaining six matches and still make finals – provided other results go true to form.

But Harkin said they were aiming higher. Their performance on the weekend has boosted hopes they can win all six.

“You definitely want to win every game and not have to rely on other teams,” he said.

“With our draw, the games against Collegians and Nirranda will show us where we’re at. We were disappointed (with the result) against Dennington, we thought we did well. And to lose against Panmure was disappointing.”

Harkin said beating the Cats was “no doubt” their best win. He hoped their first quarter, when they kicked 8.2 to 0.1, could be a reference point going forward.

But the way the Cats fought back to close within eight points at half-time hinted they needed to work on shutting down the game when on the back foot.

“You can play good footy and sometimes not get the result on the scoreboard through bad kicking or not getting shots on goal,” he said.

“To get scoreboard pressure (in the first term) set us up. In saying that, Allansford did well in the second quarter. It’s not that good to leak that many goals. We addressed that after half-time, our backline did a lot better.”

The Power regains Mitch Elford after the bye while Matt Fidge and Luke Kenna are also on the road back from injuries.