An impressive win over Scottsdale last weekend kept the Suburban Tigers within pouncing distance of the Sharks, who sit a game ahead but hold a weaker percentage.

“The ladder position doesn’t worry us,” Stubbs said. 

“There’s absolutely no difference, it’s more about finishing well and getting momentum going into finals.”

Rocherlea will welcome back two of its key defensive posts for the away clash, including the return of Luke Richards from concussion. 

“He’s a very important player for our back half and Gavin Provis should be back as well, who was a late withdrawal last week.” 

RELATED: NTFA Division 1 round 17 round-up

SCOTTSDALE will be looking to bounce back from last weekend’s loss when it hosts second-placed Bracknell. 

The Redlegs made light work of Bridgenorth at home last weekend but should find things more difficult against a team desperate to launch itself head-first into finals.  

Magpies coach Geoff Mohr said his side was keen to rectify the inaccurate kicking in front of goal which led to Scottsdale’s fifth defeat of the season. 

“We had our opportunities, it’s just making sure we make the most of it and putting that scoreboard pressure on,” Mohr said. 

“You want to be winning games heading into finals series, you don’t want to come in off the back of two losses so we’ll just go into and prepare how we normally do and hopefully come out with a win.”

SOUTH LAUNCESTON will have to see off Bridgenorth to ensure it finishes the season in top spot. 

Coming off the bye last week, South will travel to Parrot Park for their last hitout before finals but Bridgenorth coach Patrick Mackrell is keen to give the Bulldogs more than their money’s worth.

Mackrell said his charges were disappointed with last week’s effort but keen to make amends against another talented side.

“It’s been a good week on the track and we’re looking to have a real crack against South, they’re a very dangerous team and more than capable of winning the premiership so it’ll be a good test for our final game,” he said.  

“Leigh Harding, the Vineys, (Luke) Mccarty, they’re all good players so we’ve got to make sure we can nullify them as best we can and look to hurt them when we’ve got the ball.”

DELORAINE can avoid the wooden spoon with a win over seventh-placed Longford on the weekend.

The Kangaroos dropped to ninth place last weekend after George Town went four points ahead with a win over Longford.

George Town has the bye. 

PERTH coach Damian Rhind says the pressure is all on Lilydale ahead of the two sides’ elimination final on Saturday morning.

The Magpies will make a handful of changes in preparation for their first finals appearance since 2011.

“The message from me and from the reserves coach is that we’re under no pressure at all this week,” Rhind said.

“Especially in the seniors for Lilydale, to make the grand final last year... the possibility of being eliminated has got to put a lot of pressure on them.” 

Demons trio Patrick Sulzberger, Reuben Rothwell and Kade Dwyer will all return for the crunch clash, which Lilydale coach Thane Bardenhagen hopes will kick-start a long finals campaign.

“We got to the grand final last year and didn’t win so it’s the start of some redemption for us,” Bardenhagen said.  

“Perth are the big improvers of the comp this year and it’s their first year in finals for a fair few years.

“We can’t take them lightly because they’re going to be up and about.”

RELATED: NTFA Division 2 finals fixtures

NTFA Division 2 round 16 round-up

Saturday’s qualifying final between OLD SCOTCH and Evandale may have been locked in weeks ago, but the clash looms no less intriguing as the competition’s top two sides prepare to butt heads.

The Country Eagles enter the match having not lost a game since round 10’s 38-point loss to the Thistles, who returned to the winner’s list last weekend after two consecutive losses. 

“This is a very critical game... this really sets you up in finals,” Scotch coach Jake Terry said.

“I think in the last couple of weeks we’ve both known we’d play each other in the first week of finals, so I daresay Evandale’s coach and ourselves have been preparing for this match.”

Old Scotch will take a full-strength side into the match, while Evandale will miss Warwick Johnson and Sam Hughes but regain James Miller and Jason Bennett.

Evandale coach Anthony Axton said last week’s win over Perth in tough conditions stood his side in good stead for meeting the “benchmark of the competition”.  

“It was a finals-like atmosphere on the ground with the intensity and the pressure, so I think it’s a pretty good lead-up to the finals for us,” Axton said.

EAST COAST and St Pats will meet in the second elimination final on Sunday.

The high-scoring Swans have won their past three matches by a combined total of 376 points, but Saints coach Alex Russell is confident his side has what it takes to outscore them. 

“A bit of player management over the past few weeks has helped us and we’ve got our list sitting healthy ready for this weekend,” he said. 

“We want to set the foundations of a pretty good finals series this week by knocking East Coast out, winning well and getting on a bit of a roll.”

ALL NTFA Division 2 finals will be played at Invermay Park this weekend.