The Devils surrendered second spot on the ladder to Collegians via a 30-12 defeat to the Dogs at Parrish Park, their first loss since round two. It came after comfortable wins over bottom three sides Corrimal, Thirroul and Berkeley by a combined 82 points as well as a bye in their previous month of football that was also interrupted by wet weather and rep football.

Kimmorley said the manner of those victories may have papered over some cracks that were exposed against quality opposition last week.

“It was disappointing. I think for a number of weeks now our completion rate and our ball handling hasn’t been good enough to get into an arm wrestle,” Kimmorley said.

“We’ve probably been a little bit lucky and have a few good individual performances that have won some games for us. We’ve probably been lucky for a few weeks there to get away with the win but we played a pretty good side in Collies last week and if you drop the ball it puts your defence under pressure.

“There were moments in the game where I thought we were in the arm wrestle and we were competing set for set but they just held the pressure a little bit longer and int he end that’s why the scoreline looked like it did.

The Devils face a tough task to avoid back to back losses this week when they travel to Dapto Showground to take on the undefeated Canaries on Saturday. 

The two sides turned on a classic in wet conditions at Parrish Park in round two that ended in a narrow 14-12 victory to the Canaries.

It makes Saturday’s clash one of the most anticipated game of the season and Kimmorley said his side will need to lift against the competition leaders.

“They’re obviously going great. They’re leading the comp, they had a great win last week and they’ve got some pretty good footy players in their side so it’s a good test for us,” Kimmorley said.

“They’re playing at home, they’ll be confident and they’ll be excited. 

“They’ve got a little bit of a gap there [at the top of] the ladder so they’re the best team in the competition at the moment.”

A win would keep the Devils in the hunt for a top two finish but Kimmorley said ladder position is the furthest thing from his mind.

“At the moment I don’t think we can be worrying about where we’re going to finish on the ladder, Kimmorley said.

“I think at the moment it’s about getting some better performances, some more consistent footy. There’s not too many games this year where you’d say we’ve played to our full potential.

“The big focus for us over the last few weeks and going forward is playing to a better standard as a team and we’ll see if we’re good enough as a football side then. 

“We need to play some good footy, some consistent footy and then when the semi-finals come you feel like you deserve to be there.”