The Stawell Warriors are locked in a mighty battle for a top-five position on the WFNL ladder, and with an impressive win over Minyip-Murtoa in round 15 they did their hopes no harm.
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For the second time in 2021 the Warriors and Burras clashed on the court, with Stawell prevailing by nine goals in tricky conditions.
Minyip-Murtoa, who have won just two games in 2021, after a grand final appearance in 2019, were in the contest all the way to the end.
With heavy rain falling at Central Park, the Warriors held a slender, two-goal lead at half-time, before showing their class to stretch out to a 45-34 win at the final siren.
Warriors A Grade coach Courtney McIlvride said she was pleased with the way her team played in the mixed conditions.
"I think went just adapted well. There was a couple of people who were struggling to move with the wet weather," she said.
"But we made a few changes on the court and the players did well with those changes and the positive vibe out on the court was really good.
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"I was really happy. There was some interesting weather conditions as I'm sure there was across the whole region.
"We started off a bit slow, but then we kicked into it."
With the round 16 bye scheduled for Saturday, McIlvride said her side will be making the most of it, before a final push to end the season.
"We will enjoy having the week off. We have a couple with niggling injuires and so they'll be able to have a bit of a break," she said.
"We have a couple of good tough games leading into finals so that will be good for us.
"We really have just been practising what we have been working on and fine tuning it and hopefully come finals we will be ready to go and at our peak.
"We are really excited, it has been a couple of years since we have been in finals."
After their gritty win, the Warriors sit in fifth position on the ladder and with the Horsham Saints sitting just four points behind the Warriors.
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Meanwhile the Warriors will need to regroup and reassess after they were handed a pre-finals warning from Minyip-Murtoa, going down 5.6 (36) to 10.12 (72).
Despite a football season that has been stop-start at times, the Burras have continued on their winning ways, sending a message to the rest of the competition in round 15.
A dominate second term was the difference for the Burras as they kicked five unanswered goals to take a 42 point lead into half-time.
As the weather conditions the Warriors rallied, winning the second half, but the damage had already been done.
Cam Kimber and Kurt Bruechert were tow of the Warriors best, with Taylor Vaughan's two goals leading the way up forward.
A round 16 bye is somewhat awkward timing for the Warriors, with matches against the Demons and Saints to come before September action begins.
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