North Warrnambool Eagles mentor Skye Billings says to knock off a fellow finals contender away from home is the perfect confidence-booster heading into the bye.
The fifth-placed Eagles moved 14 points clear of Portland in sixth with the 49-37 win against Koroit, a victory built off a strong and dynamic first quarter and some professional, controlled netball thereafter.
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"Koroit have strong players all over the court even though they were missing a few players due to basketball, it's still always a big confidence-booster to beat them on their home court," she said.
"We came together as a team really well - we have a few lulls in some quarters every now and then and we're working on the consistency."
Billings, who was typically industrious in the win with 22 goals, said the strong start was vital from her group.
"We didn't think we'd get the start that we did," she said.
"They missed a few of their first few goals and after that it was about possession netball for us, coming towards the ball, and then just doing the basics.
"Once we did get that handy lead we knew they'd come back hard and strong, because they're a quality side so keeping possession was a massive key in getting the right result for us."
The Eagles mentor said the group was looking forward to having a rest over the bye and gearing up for the pointy-end of the season.
Koroit coach Kate Dobson said the Eagles played a strong brand of netball and deserved the win.
"They got an early lead and we stayed with them most of the game, but we probably fell away in the last quarter," she said.
"We had a few out, I know a lot of teams were disrupted with COVID and injuries but we had three of our nine out in Mia Mills, Molly McKinnon and Kasey Owen so Em Batt played nearly two full games playing div one as well, and a few of our girls were probably out of position.
"To North's credit they were very good, the Billings' girls, Maddy Smedts, they're classy players."
The Saints mentor says the result is an indication of just how close the season is among the top-five teams.
"We've spoken about this a bit, after the bye a lot of teams will focus on specific things they need to work on and focusing on settling ahead of finals," she said.
"There is no differences - I've said to my team that I can see us making the grand final but also losing the elimination final.
"We'll work on the one-percenters and make sure we're really prepared and focused for the task ahead."
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Dobson said the group would rest up over the bye and reset for a charge towards finals.
"We'll have one basic session away from the netball courts, just a fitness session and then once we get back into it we'll start really focusing on the pointy end of the season," she said.
