Strathfieldsaye's netballers have had plenty to smile about through the first five rounds of the BFNL A-grade season.
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Three wins, one loss and third place on the ladder is a great start for a club coming from ninth place in 2022 and sixth position in 2023.
Now the ultimate test awaits coach Steph Freemantle and her progressive playing group - Bendigo netball's big three in three consecutive rounds.
Starting with Kangaroo Flat on Saturday, the Storm plays the Roos (first), reigning premier Gisborne (second) and league power Sandhurst (fourth) in a block that will show how much improvement Strathfieldsaye has made.
The Roos, Bulldogs and Dragons won by 61 goals, 27 goals and 50 goals respectively in their round five matches last Saturday.
"I'm excited to see where we're at and what we're able to produce against a tougher team,'' Freemantle said.
"I'm a bit nervous after seeing the scores last weekend.
"It's going to be a challenging three rounds ahead, but with our goal being to play finals at the end of the year, this is an opportunity for us to get challenged and spend the next part of the season focusing on the things we really need to improve on to be competitive against the top three teams."
In two matches against the Roos last year the Storm went down by 43 goals and 16 goals.
"The real thing for us, and I guess for all the other teams outside of the top three, is being able to quickly recognise what we need to change for the same mistake not to be repeated,'' Freemantle said.
"Some of the players on these top three teams are playing together five days a week with Strikers commitments and other things and some of the teams have been playing together for years. They have those really set, clear plays that they can put in place very quickly.
"When they know they can keep repeating it, or vice-versa, they'll lock that in and play those plays. If we can't recognise them and stop some of that stuff quickly that's when the scores can blow out."
Freemantle said she was proud of the way her group had shown resilience in the face of adversity multiple times this season.
"Even when we've been pushed or challenged they've been able to step up another notch,'' Freemantle said.
"Even when games have been scrappy or we haven't been playing our best netball, we've been able to re-focus and get the result we were after.
"I'm hoping that ability to re-focus will help us in these three tough games."
The Storm are coming off a resounding 64-36 win over Castlemaine in what was arguably their best performance of the season so far.
"Annie Hughes shot at 92 per cent, which was great to see,'' Freemantle said of the win over the Magpies.
"I thought we were pretty consistent, our defensive end was pretty stable, but we were also able to make some changes at the attacking end which helped us get the win."
The only other round six A-grade game being played on Saturday is at Canterbury Park where Eaglehawk hosts Gisborne.
The young Hawks would have learned plenty against a rampant Kangaroo Flat last weekend, while Gisborne was solid in its win over Golden Square.
The final match of the split round between Golden Square and Sandhurst will be played at Wade Street on May 25.
