The Southern Stampede has fallen short of its own high expectations so far, but its confident captain wants to remind fans and opponents where the Queenstown side was this time last year.
There is no doubt in Simon Glass's mind the clash against the Dunedin Thunder this weekend is crucial for his side.
But Glass says he speaks from experience when he says the Stampede will prevail because there is no other option.
"I haven't actually done the maths, but we don't want to drop any games. As far as I'm concerned, it's a must win."
The Queenstown side reached the final last year, only after it was faced with the formidable challenge of winning six games on the trot.
It did so and Glass says it can be done again.
"We're still up there with the best in the league. We just haven't played to our full potential yet.""We did have high expectations at the start of the season so we still have everything to lose from here on in."
Since the Stampede was walloped by the Thunder in round two at the beginning of June, the side has become a much tighter unit and improved in several areas of its game.
"We've worked on our defensive system since then. That was our breakdown and other teams were capitalising on our errors," Glass said.
Coach Steve Reid said the team has refocused and now knows what it has to do in the second half of the season.
Reid says the Stampede players need to start relying on themselves for results and after a two-week break, that included a regrouping dinner to talk about team goals, they're more composed mentally.
He doesn't believe the side was "cocky" going in to the season, but admits team confidence so far hasn't been backed up with results.
"I guess there was a fair bit of confidence and not unfounded confidence. I still firmly believe we're the best team in the league. We're not hanging our heads down and we've still got a chance to win this competition.""There's a lot of confidence and a lot of belief."
The side was extremely lucky to get off three suspensions on a technicality from the referee during their home game against the Canterbury Red Devils two weeks ago.
It also now has a healthy roster with the return of Canadian import Matt Schnieder from a broken wrist and star goalie Aston Brookes, who has recovered from a groin injury.
Reid agrees with his captain that last year the side took too long to "get the cogs turning", but they turned it around in time.
"It was a high mountain to climb, but there was never any other option for us.""Every game now for us is crunch time."
