The Bombers enter the week off after a 11.18 (84) to 8.7 (55) victory over Terang Mortlake at Cobden Recreation Reserve on Saturday.

The hosts led for every second of the encounter and survived a spirited second-half fightback from the Bloods, which saw them get within seven points, to claim the victory.

Cobden, which sits in seventh and two games out of the top five, has won three of its past four games and was competitive against a firing South Warrnambool following a five-game losing streak.

Courtney's side will play premiership contender North Warrnambool Eagles, finals fancy Camperdown and six-time reigning premier Koroit following the bye.

"We have won three of our last four and had a really competitive game against South Warrnambool where it was 15 points in it and they are equal top so we're heading in right direction," he said.

"The byes have come at a good time as we have a couple of big weeks coming up so we will rest the legs, as our ground has been pretty heavy the last two weeks, and look forward to a massive clash against North Warrnambool.

"We were really competitive against them in round one and we're confident we can go over there and give ourselves a good account and hopefully we can get the points."

Courtney said his side would continue to build confidence after the bye.

"We're 3-6 after obviously a rough start but it puts us two games out of the five but we're still concentrating week by week and we understand where we are at and the way we want to play footy," he said.

"We are going well, playing as a team and we believe we were in a few games. We were in the North Warrnambool game (round one), the South Warrnambool game (round eight) and we were very competitive against Camperdown (round two).

"We will see how we go in the second half of the year but we are playing good footy and confident where we are going."

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Second-gamer Tyler Humphrey (shins) failed to play out the match but the Bombers expect Tom Spokes (finger) and Grady Rooke (hamstring) to return after the bye.

Bloods coach Ben Kenna said building belief in his side, which sits second last on the ladder, would be his key focus in the Hampden league's week off.

"Belief in the way we are trying to play is the challenge that we are up against," he said.

"When you lose more games than you win naturally that confidence level can dip and I'm trying to instil that belief in the guys.

"That's what I did at half-time and they showed that with a bit of belief and taking the game on things can turn around. Take a few risks, don't worry about the mistakes and put them behind us."

The Bloods face Camperdown after the bye.

Cobden 3.2, 8.5, 9.10, 11.18 (84)

Terang Mortlake 0.4, 2.5, 7.7, 8.7 (55)

GOALS

Cobden: Jesse Williamson 4, Jack Hutt 4, Matthew Kemp 1, Ben Berry 1, Sam Thow 1

Terang Mortlake: Daniel Kenna 2, William Kain 2, Christopher Baxter 2, Matthew Baxter 1, Nathan Murphy 1

BEST

Cobden: Mark Marriott, Jesse Williamson, Zac Green, Ricky Sullivan, Ben Berry, Paul Pekin

Terang Mortlake: Brodhi Carracher, Gus Bourke, Jack Lehmann, Isaac Kenna, Jarryd Hay, Darcy Hobbs

IN OTHER NEWS

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