Illawarra League 2019: Butchers not getting caught in ladder obsession

The Butchers currently sit third, two points adrift of Wests and Collegians, but will have the chance to draw level when they host Corrimal in a held-over wet weather clash on Saturday.

A win would see a three-way tie at the top of the ladder, with the Devils and Butchers' top-two prospects likely to go on the line when they meet in a fortnight's time.

Conventional wisdom says two bites at the finals cherry is a must but, having taken multiple routes to previous grand finals, Johnson feels his side can make a run from wherever they start.

"That [major semi-final] can work for or against you," Johnson said.

"I've been in years where we've finished top two, come in and lost and still gone all the way and vice versa, you come in go lose-lose and you're out the back door.

"There's no good way to do it, you've just got to take it as it comes. If we finish top two we can get that week off it might refresh us or if we come in third we'll have a shot at going back to back into a grand final.

"We've got some good experienced players If we end up finishing third, as long as we're there at the end, we can pull something together. You've just got to be in there and playing your best footy at the back end of the season."

Capturing top form remains the task ahead of the Butchers who, after beating Collegians in the season-opener, have been edged out in their last two outings against top-two rivals.

They'll have to navigate matches against Corrimal and Helensburgh ahead of a crunch clash the Devils, but Johnson said the task is less about the ladder and more about stringing games together.

"We've had a couple of tough games and a couple of those tight losses so it was pretty important to get back on the field and start building towards the back end of the year," Johnson said.

"We probably haven't played to our absolute best and on the bigger occasions when we've played those top teams we probably haven't played for the full 80.

"Every coach bangs on about it but it is pretty important against the top teams and we've probably been a bit guilty of drifting in and out of games. Even at the back end of last year, especially in the grand final, we missed the jump.

"We're in it for 60 minutes and 20 odd minutes through the game are just killing us. It's definitely something we've spoken about and we're looking fix."

The Butchers also aren't about to sleep on the Cougars or Tigers who remain in the finals fight.

"The next couple of games we have are against teams fighting for top-four positions," Johnson said.

"Corrimal and Helensburgh haven't made the semis for a couple of years and they're a good chance so it's very important we do play well."

Saturday's make-up clash will be standalone, with the full competition resuming next weekend.