The Crookwell Green Devils kept their slim finals hopes alive on Sunday with a see-sawing 36-14 victory over the Boorowa Rovers.
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Played at the Crookwell Memorial Oval, the match was in essence a story of two parts.
The first was the opening 20 minutes, during which the Green Devils dominated and ran out to a 24-0 lead.
The second was the final 50 minutes, which saw the Rovers rebound and take advantage of a number of errors from the home side.
While Crookwell kept Boorowa out in the end, the visitors won the last 50 minutes 12-14. Green Devils coach Simon Smith said that consistency was the biggest challenge facing his side.
"We [sometimes] bring glimpses of that grand final team back," Smith said.
"Obviously we haven't got the team we had last year, but that's what we're working on, we haven't gone away from it much.
"We can play little patches here and there where we give sides a sniff when we should be putting them to the sword.
"But that first half today was pretty good."
The Green Devils currently sit at sixth on the ladder, two places out from a finals berth.
With a bye scheduled for this weekend, Crookwell needs to win both of its remaining matches - round 17 against Harden, round 18 against the UC Grizzlies - in order to qualify.
Despite the mountainous challenges which lie ahead, Smith is confident that the close games which have come to define Crookwell's season can begin to swing in their favour.
"Today was pretty much, a must-win for us," Smith said.
"We've been beaten narrowly in each game [that we've lost]. It's not like we've been getting flogged, it's just been the run of the ball."
While the struggles that Crookwell has faced in the 2019 season have surprised some, Smith is pleased with the team's progress considering the losses of Cam and Joe Picker last year, along with his own retirement due to injury.
"These boys are pretty young, I think our oldest at the moment is 30," Smith said.
"You lose quality players like two Pickers, who have played city football, it's going to take time to get back to where we were.
"In saying that, you've still got good footballers coming through. It's just a matter of having that belief in themselves."
While the men are scraping their way towards a finals berth, the She Devils remained in excellent form all season. They also scored a good win on the weekend, 22-12 over the Roverettes, which locks in a second-place finish.
This weekend, both Crookwell sides have byes.