Russells Creek's A grade side has retained its spot in the Warrnambool and District league top five and has the bye to prepare for a huge test against undefeated Nirranda.
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Creekers proved too strong for Allansford running out 61-26 winners at Allansford Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
The Blues also had a good win in their 2019 grand final rematch, overcoming Merrivale 43-38 at Nirranda.
Creekers coach Thalia Robertson said the group worked well when switching from defence to attack.
"We transitioned the ball quite well, from our centre to attacking ring," she said.
"That's what we practiced over the week just to make sure we could bring it into our game play nice and clean and I thought that was good.
"We tried Annabel (Lucas) in wing attack this week and she was quite dynamic in there and fed the girls well so that was a big improvement for us."
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Creekers' tough run home includes Nirranda, Timboon Demons, Old Collegians, Dennington, Merrivale and Panmure.
Robertson has been pleased with her group's three-match winning streak since it returned from the coronavirus pandemic-enforced break.
"It's good to, in these past three weeks, get our game style down pat a little more so that when we do hit those tougher teams, we're not scrambling, we've got those things in place," she said.
Another positive is the Creekers have most of their players back on court after injuries earlier this season.
"I feel like we're settling now which is the good end of the season to be settling coming into finals," Robertson said.
Russells Creek was sitting fifth, with five wins and four losses, going into the the clash.
It desperately needed the win to stay ahead of Old Collegians, which remains just one game behind after its mammoth 74-31 victory over Kolora-Noorat.
Given Panmure's 47-36 loss to Timboon Demons on Saturday, the Creekers are now on the same points (24) as the fourth-ranked Bulldogs.
Robertson is aware of the finals equation and will be making sure her group makes the most of the bye.
"We'll still train during the week and maybe go out for tea and that sort of stuff," she said.
"But we don't really want to have a week off, we had a couple of weeks off only four weeks ago so it probably won't do us any good not to get out there and be doing things.
"And then with that tough run home, we need to make sure we're strong."
Allansford mentor Bridget Foster said her team had trouble controlling the play.
"The first thing I said to the girls when they came off was that I felt like the score line didn't quite reflect how I felt the game played out," she said.
"But I think we were still our own worst enemies, really.
"There were too many basic errors, too many turnovers probably killed us in the end."
Like Creekers, the Cats will hit the track this week.
"We'll still train as normal, having these couple of weeks off with COVID probably gave us a bit of slow start getting back into it so we need to keep ticking along," Foster said.
"We've got a few hard games coming up so want to try and close those score lines a little bit, especially coming up against Panmure."
Foster was thrilled to give a couple of teenagers more court time on Saturday.
Maddie Drake and Hannah Byron saw more A grade minutes.
Drake started at wing attack while Byron, who Foster said was still eligible for 15 and under, played wing defence.
Russells Creek takes on the Blues at Mack Oval in round 13 while Allansford is playing Panmure at Panmure Recreation Reserve.
Meanwhile, the surprise result of the round came at Walter Oval where South Rovers secured a 49-42 victory against Dennington.
It was the Lions' second win of the season.
Allansford 7, 12, 16, 26 (26)
Russells Creek 13, 31, 49, 61 (61)
GOALS
Allansford:
T Jewell 17 H McGowan 5 M Drake 4 Russells Creek:
S Forbes 31 S Morton 16 E Armstrong 14
BEST
Allansford:
C Moloney GJ Martin C Jewell Russells Creek:
J Quinlivan A Lucas S Morton
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