West Coburg coach Mark Micklethwait has warned his side's flag rivals its best is yet to come and declared there is no extra pressure on the Strathmore Community Bank Division One outfit to claim the ultimate prize.
The Burgers' past three campaigns have delivered three grand final defeats against current Premier Division clubs Airport West, Deer Park, and Maribyrnong Park.
They have again put themselves in contention this year, sitting in second position with an 11-4 record with three games remaining in the home-and-away campaign.
First-year coach Micklethwait is bullish about what his team is capable of.
"I think our best is still ahead of us," Micklethwait said.
"We've shown it in glimpses, but we haven't been able to maintain it consistently.
"We're still a work in progress. We're getting there, but a couple of steps backwards for us to hopefully take some big strides forward."
A three-time premiership player and best-and-fairest winner at West Coburg, Micklethwait has not implemented significant changes in a bid to go one step further this season.
"Obviously it wasn't a complete broken wheel. We just had to put our stamp on it. We had a fair turnover of players, so we tried to bring in some youth and see how that went," he said.
"Obviously we're sitting pretty well at the moment, but there's still a couple of games to go."
Just as former coach Daniel Barnes did almost 12 months ago, Micklethwait denied there was any extra pressure on his players to deliver after three consecutive defeats on the final day of the season.
The Burgers' most recent senior flag came in Division One in 2014 before a four-year stay in Premier Division.
"Not one bit," Micklethwait said.
"There's no pressure on the club this year. We just go out, play our best footy and if that gets us the result, so be it.
"But, yeah, no pressure at all."
The Burgers have twice lost to Avondale Heights (fourth) and have also dropped games against Oak Park (first) and Hillside (third).
They will round out the regular season with fixtures against Taylors Lakes, the ladder-leading Kangaroos, and Tullamarine.
Asked if Oak Park was West Coburg's main threat, Micklethwait said: "I see ourselves as our main danger. If we can get things right, the things that we can control, that's all we're focusing on.
"We've got plenty of improvement. We're getting fitter, stronger as we go, so it's an exciting time for us."
West Coburg's premiership hopes received a shot in the arm when Omar Saad (Newport) and Ibrahim Taha (Pascoe Vale) returned to the club mid-season.
Veteran goalkicker Saad has 12 goals from five senior appearances, including a haul of six against Moonee Valley, while Taha has seven majors from four outings.
While the duo bring star power, Micklethwait said they had to fit into the team's system.
"We don't want to become reliant on one or two people carrying the team. We want everyone to contribute, and they've been awesome, absolutely amazing," he said.
"They're playing different roles to what they're used to playing and they've been really accommodating.
"It's not all about kicking goals for us at the moment. They're playing midfield, they're playing defensive roles forward, and doing whatever they have to do, which speaks highly of their character."
Stars Ruairi Cleary and Tom Baravi have again been models of consistency, while Jesse Martini has 44 goals to his name from 13 games, including a bag of nine against St Albans and eight against Moonee Valley.
Micklethwait reserved praise for Emilio Rinaudo, who has been named in the best players eight times from 13 matches this year and contributed 10 goals.
"We've had some improvement from some guys who played a lot of twos football, and they've come on in leaps and bounds. It's been a combined effort," he said.
As finals draw closer, Micklethwait said the Burgers' core group remained hungry to alleviate the pain of previous campaigns.
"They've been great. It's been hard for them, coming off those three (grand final) losses, to keep backing up," he said.
"So it's all about keeping them fresh mentally and physically, and it's more about me trying to get them to stop. They train themselves every other night, so they're a pretty committed group, but it's about trying to keep them fresh as well."
