Royals looking to cement themselves as a top-four side while Rovers chase first win of the season

Coming off the bye, Chapman Valley will have a big test this week as they face the reigning premier Rovers in the round-four clash. The Demons are yet to get a win on the board this season after going down by 14 points to the second-placed Railways last week. Now they host the Royals who are looking for a second straight win after their 136-point mauling of Mullewa in week two. Royals head coach Aaron Thomas said the game plan hasn’t changed. “We’re just going to attack it how we have the first two weeks, we just want to play our brand of footy,” he said. “This year we’ve pretty much gone the team approach, so if our bottom four players can step up, it makes all our top end players better . . . that’s a team mentality we use.” In a comp with an uneven number of teams, Chapman Valley were one of the clubs that drew the short straw, getting the round-three bye. Thomas said the team didn’t take their foot off the pedal in training, making sure they wouldn’t lose any momentum gained in the first two weeks. “We had a full scratch match last Thursday, we worked the boys pretty hard to keep that match fitness up,” he said. “The fixturing this year isn’t very conducive for playing local footy, with playing two or three weeks then you got a bye, it’s hard to coach and train for.” The Royals are currently fourth on the ladder with their 1-1 record, but with the shortened season every game becomes important. “It’s a massive game for our club, I think with Rovers last year we went one and one against them, we see this as a crucial game for our season,” Thomas said. While the Dees are currently winless, Thomas said that the side still has some match-winners that need to be contained. “They’ve got some really top players in their team, so we just have to try and reduce the impact of what they have against us, if we can nullify their top end then we can expose their bottom end,” he said. “We think we’ve got a fairly competitive team in, Rovers are going to be hard to beat at their home ground, so we’re in for a real scrap for the day I think.” Across the other games in round 4, Towns might struggle to claim their first win of the season as they travel to face the 3-0 Northampton side that are the form team right now. Railways will be looking to boost their percentage as they host a Mullewa team that has started their campaign at 1-2. Brigades have the bye this week.