The ‘Cutters lost by 109 points to third-placed Katamatite last weekend, who beat Katandra by two points two rounds ago.
Mathoura’s senior football coach Tim McCormick said the team is taking on the upper echelon of the competition.
“We’ve got a pretty hard run coming up against some strong sides, including Katandra this week.
“Katamatite is very strong. They knocked off Katandra the week before and are one of the powerhouses of the competition.
“We also had five out last week, which doesn’t help, but regardless it doesn’t get easier this week.”
McCormick said his players are getting their hands on the ball but finding it difficult when moving it forward.
“We struggled to get clean entry into our forward line.
“We’ve been trying to get an even spread across the ground, lock it in our forward half and try to give repeat attempts at inside 50s, but our skill execution has just been occasionally off.
“And the best teams make you pay for that.”
The ‘Cutters have been strong around the ball all year, as shown in the third quarter on the weekend, but momentary lapses have been exploited by the better teams in the competition, McCormick said.
“We’ve been good in patches but not for long enough.
“We’ll continue to stick to what we do best.
“Our contested ball winning has been good but we’ve had lapses even against lesser teams.
“It didn’t hurt us as much there, but against the best teams it doesn’t cut it.”
Despite last week’s result, McCormick said his team has what it takes to challenge the best teams.
But he said they must implement their effort for more of the match to take it to them.
“We have to have the understanding that’s the effort we need to bring.
“We’ve got a young group which is learning, which is a challenge for our coaching staff and senior players.
“Against the top teams, we’ll be working on developing that consistency, and we need to bring that consistency for longer.
“I think we’ve got the game plan and structure, but against good sides, we’ve got to be better for longer. If you take the foot off the gas they’ll hurt you.”
McCormick said despite the challenge ahead, the team is looking forward to taking on the league’s best.
“That’s what you want. We relish these challenges.
“As a young side, you want to be playing against the best teams.”
Increasing the challenges for the Cutters’ this weekend will be the absence of key players.
“Unfortunately, this week we lose a couple more including Jake Cardilini, who has been our best player the last two weeks, who is overseas.
“It will be a challenge down back, but it gives someone else an opportunity to stand up.”
10°C