Timboon – fresh off a round four bye – has lost two fixtures by two goals and will enter round five locked in eighth position.

Gowland said her side had used the bye to recover from a couple of niggling injuries and to prepare for a clash with Russells Creek.

“I think it’s sensible to be wary of teams at this stage of the season,” she said.

“Making decisions about players before you’ve come up against them is really risky.

“I expect the girls to go out and to play exactly how we want to play. While everybody does look at the ladder, it shouldn’t make a difference to how we approach the game.”

Gowland implored her players to carry form from a fast-finish against South Rovers in round three into this week. “We won that last quarter by about seven goals and looked like a team in charge at the end,” she said.

“If we can play the way we finished that game, we’ll be fine.”