The Timboon Demons must quickly lick their wounds.
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A disappointing second quarter saw Leah Sinnott's outfit suffer a shock loss to the lower-ranked South Rovers in round six.
And this week Timboon takes on the Warrnambool and District league's reigning premiers Nirranda, fresh off a 28-goal belting of finals aspirant Merrivale.
"Nirranda are one of the benchmark teams, if not the benchmark," Sinnott said.
Sinnott, who joined from the Hampden league's Camperdown this season, said beyond their impressive reputation, she knew very little about the Blues' playing list, having only encountered former Terang Mortlake player Lisa Couch.
But the Demons coach said her charges would be more than familiar with ex-teammate Cloe Marr, who won the league's A-grade best and fairest award in 2018 before joining Nirranda.
"They have a good understanding of how she works as a player," she said.
"I'm sure there will be an element of nerves for them, but the girls will tackle the game like any other."
Timboon must address its second-quarter blues, with a combined 21 goals conceded the last two weeks that effectively decided its losses to South Rovers and Dennington, to have any chance of defeating Nirranda.
"We've had brilliant passages of play that I believe can match any team," she said.
"But we've let ourselves down with patches of poor decision-making that completely turned the game around and undone a lot of the good work we started out with," Sinnott said.
"Our capacity to fight back is pleasing and a great quality to have, but we need to be maintaining the intensity, timing and decision-making that we have shown in patches, for a full four-quarter effort."
Nirranda coach Steph Townsend said fifth-placed Timboon, which followed a three-game winning streak with a three-game losing streak, had been a "mixed bag" this season.
She said the Demons' biggest asset was their goalie combinations, made up of Hayley Plozza, Laura Rosolin and Raina Hunt, while also paying tribute to the side's new coach.
"Leah Sinnott was a quality Hampden league player and brings a wealth of experience," Townsend said.
Townsend said Nirranda's 62-34 domination of Merrivale was its first hit-out at full strength for the 2019 season, as the side welcomed back Couch and Lisa Anders.
The Blues are currently top of the WDFNL table with a 5-0 record and a whopping percentage of 149.16, which is 17.41 points higher than the league's next best in Dennington.
And a victory over Timboon would mean Nirranda had defeated every other side in the league's top five just a third of the way through the season.
"I don't mind being the hunted," Townsend said.
"I'm a very competitive person so I think it's good in a sense because we've worked really hard as a club to get where we are, with all three senior sides in the top five.
"I'm really lucky to coach such a talented side."
But in a warning shot to the competitive, Townsend believes the Blues can still improve their transition work.
"Our best netball is still to come," she said. "We haven't quite got there yet."
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