Testing time for Warriors

MODEWARRE coach Matt Armstrong says the last two games of the home-and-away season will show his team exactly where it stands heading into finals.

Sitting on top of the BFL netball table after Round 16, the Warriors face two of their biggest challengers in the next fortnight, with third-placed Barwon Heads and secondplaced Geelong Amateur both on their radar.

But Armstrong said he could not pick two better teams to help prepare Modewarre for finals, and said no matter which way results went, it would provide some clarity on how they stacked up against some of the contenders for this year’s flag.

“We had Ocean Grove last week and they are top five ma- terial, and finishing off with Barwon Heads and Ammos is a good lead into the finals,” Armstrong said.

“It really lets us know where we are at and gets us battlehardened for our finals campaign.

“It would be disappointing to head into finals with one or two losses under your belt, that is never nice, but all the same, we understand that these last couple of games probably don’t have much of a bearing on things. If we finish top we get a week off and if we don’t we get to play another good hard game in between.

“So it would be disappointing to lose, but if we do then it gives us a bit of a wake-up call and would show us a couple of areas we need to work on to improve.”

Modewarre has not missed a beat since dropping two of its opening three games, winning 13 consecutive matches and putting the competition on notice that back-to-back premierships is well and truly in its thinking.

It has been a stunning turnaround, which Armstrong said was a credit to his players for sticking to the plan despite the early mishaps.

“We had a few away early on and it makes things hard when you’re trying to settle a new team in when you can’t get that continuity,” he said.

“As the season has gone on though they have become more familiar with each other and our structures have started to click for us.

“So early on it was just a matter of getting that consistency between the group and as the year has gone on we’ve managed to do that.”

Modewarre hosts Barwon Heads on Saturday. The Agrade clash starts at 1.45pm.