by Henry Jacobs

Warringah sent an ominous warning to the rest of the Shute Shield with its defeat of highflying Manly on Saturday.

Greg Marr’s side has won 10 of its last 12 matches and has all but sealed a place in the top four with two rounds remaining in the regular season.

“Now is not the time for tinkering and changing too much, it’s really just keeping the boys fresh mentally,” Marr told Rugby News.

“They’re not going to get any fitter at this time of the season, so it’s all a matter of keeping them switched on and retaining that confidence and enjoyment they are getting at the moment.”

The fourth placed Rats host fifth positioned Sydney University on Saturday and travel to table toppers Eastwood in the final round of the regular season.

With a likely match up against Southern Districts, in the first week of the finals, Warringah are eager to claim home ground advantage by finishing in the top three.

Over 4,500 people cheered on a second half comeback against Manly on Saturday and after last years exit, away to Sydney University, Marr’s side understands the benefit of hosting a knock out match.

“If you were out at Rat Park on Saturday you would of appreciated the support the boys got from the crowd . . . it does mean a hell of a lot, particularly in semi finals football, they give the boys that lift,” Marr said.

“It would be fantastic for the club and I think it would give us an extra leg, however during the season you have to learn to win at all grounds, so it would be a nice advantage but I’m not counting on it”

Warringah has only one title, 2005, since it was promoted to the Shute Shield in 1971 and another trophy would be befitting of the proud history of the club.

“It would be an outstanding achievement for the club and represent a major turnaround in a couple of years,” Marr said.

“The boys deserve it and I think it would be a fantastic legacy . . . I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but to win another grand final would be fantastic.”

Before such aspirations can be realised, the Rats must combat a growing injury list and the likely replenishment of its opposition by players returning from higher levels.

Unlike Saturday’s opponent’s, Sydney University, the Rats do not have any squad members coming back from Super Rugby duty; however they do see the advantage of facing strong opposition ahead of the finals.

“It gives you a benchmark and has you going, not to the detriment of Parramatta or Penrith but I wouldn’t like to be playing those two teams and having relatively comfortable wins and thinking that we are doing better than we actually are,” said Marr.

Warringah will look to the experience of halfback Josh Holmes and captain Sam Ward to guide them through the challenging games ahead.

“They are the guys that when the big games are on you realise they step up, because of their Super Rugby experience they know what it takes,” said Marr.

“We’ve got guys like Luke and Josh [Holmes] that have played a bit of Super Rugby and had a lot of experience in the NRC last season.”

Warringah host Sydney University at Rat Park, in Round 17 of the Shute Shield, at 3pm on Saturday.