K Rock Football | For St Mary’s, a win over 2023 preliminary final nemesis Leopold on Saturday on the ground where their dreams of a unique hat-trick of premiership were crushed will have a two-fold effect.

Victory will maintain the Saints’ three-game buffer in second spot with five rounds remaining,

Throw in a percentage that is 91 points greater than the rest of the competition, and it all but guarantees their finals campaign will start in no worse than a qualifying final.

“The season’s certainly tightening up, which is great for the competition,” St Mary’s co-coach Luke Rayner said.

“There are three or four genuine contenders at the moment, so how the back six weeks of the season plays out will go a long way in terms of determining what the final mix looks like.

“For us, it’s more about continuing to go out and try to play the footy we want to be playing, and we’ll get tested against a quality opposition this week.”

The Saints lose star trio Jarryd Garner (broken hand), Jack Blood (adductor) and Chris Jansen (overseas).

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