Lavington star Nick Meredith says his team must produce an elite pressure performance against Wangaratta in Saturday's grand final qualifier.
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The premiership fancies kicked 23 goals in round five with Lavington becoming the first team in almost 20 years to kick 19 and lose.
The minor premiers lost that game by 30 points, but were able to restrict the Pies to 13 majors in July, chopping the margin to 20 points.
"I think maybe our pressure on the ball was better, like no matter who you are, if the ball is coming in hot and fast, you are never going to stop them scoring," the key defender said.
"I think it's midfield pressure, keep them under the pump so they couldn't get clean delivery."
Lavington can take heart from Wangaratta's performances against Albury in 2017.
The Pies kept reducing the margins in every game until posting one of the best wins in club history with a 21-point win against a club which had lost one game in two years.
"We looked at the stats the last time we played them (13.11 to 10.9), I think we had more inside 50s than them," Meredith said.
"I think we had more possessions in total, more everything basically, just our scoring efficiency wasn't as good, which is a credit to their backline, but we also have a pretty bad track record at Lavington with inside 50 efficiency.
"We've been working on it all year, so we have improved a lot, it's a matter of getting shots from good areas."
The Panthers have improved their efficiency over the past three seasons.
In 2017, Lavington kicked 250 goals and 267 behinds for a goal efficiency of 48 per cent.
Last year, in coach Simon Curtis's first season, the Panthers went 219-210 (51 per cent) and this year's it's 309-268 (54 per cent).
The spring-heeled Meredith has played forward occasionally, kicking four goals in the round 18 clash against Corowa-Rutherglen.
Prior to leaving for a two-year stint with VFL outfit Werribee in 2016, he kicked seven in 45 games.
"I'm enjoying it, change it up a little bit, rolling from the wing to forward when I rest forward," he said.
"I'm more suited to wing, but I just got trapped in defence I guess."
Wangaratta boasts the league's greatest depth and if a team is to stop a 10-match winning streak, it must combat that at Birallee Park.
"They're well balanced, their depth is probably the biggest thing, they haven't really got anyone who you can say, 'don't worry about them'," he said.
"They always stand up, against Albury last week, their young blokes, who a lot of people might not have heard of, were kicking goals left, right and centre."
The Pies' depth can be seen by the fact that Williamstown-listed forward Daniel Sharrock is an emergency after playing two games in reserves.
There should be some cracking match-ups, with Meredith taking star forward Michael Newton in round 15.
Meanwhile, Pie Jamie Anderson tackled forward Aidan Johnson.