That’s the attitude Pirates are taking into their highly-anticipated major semi-final clash with Walcha at Ken Chillingworth Oval on Saturday.

The prequel was a cracker with Pirates turning around a 10-point deficit midway through the second half to snatch a four point win and seal the minor premiership.

But now a whole new competition begins, and what’s happened through the season counts for little.

“It was good to go through undefeated but it won’t mean anything if we don’t go on with it,” Pirates coach Mat Kelly said.

Familiar territory for them, all of the side have been involved in the finals before.

“We’ve got a lot of experience and we’ll look to use all that,” Kelly said.

His own experience tells him it will be tough, and they can’t afford to underestimate the Rams.

“There is a reason they are playing in the major semi-final. We’ll definitely be looking to step it up,” he said.

And they will need to from that last game, Kelly remarking afterwards that they played some “pretty ordinary footy” at times.

“We just have to play for 80 minutes and not let them get back into the game,” he said.

Sam Collins returns to the pack, with Mitch Bath slotting into outside centre.

A “win win”, it gives them another ball playing option in the midfield, and another threat over the ball with Collins in Kelly’s opinion the best number seven in the competition.

It’s no secret that much of Pirates momentum and dominance is derived from their forwards, and Kelly said they won’t be looking to go away from what’s got them into the position they are in.

He believes they can gain a bit of an advantage through the forwards, especially in the set pieces. They had the Rams measure in the scrum that last game.

One of their biggest challenges will come defensively with the Rams boasting threats across the field.

An area of Pirates’ game they pride themselves on, Kelly spoke about needing to shut down the Rams’ time and space.

Especially on counter-attack with the Rams one of the most potent sides on the counter in the competition.

Thrashed by Pirates in their first meeting, the Rams know they’ve got the game to trouble the premiers.

“The boys are pretty confident,” co-coach Barry Hoy said, that last loss bouying them.

“We lost the game but we know we should have won.”

They know though they will have to lift.

“We blindsided Pirates that day. They weren’t expecting us to be as competitive as we were,” he said.

They won’t be making that mistake again.

Hoy said the Rams have done a fair bit of work on their set pieces, knowing how important it is to win those, but didn’t feel they need to do a lot better.

“We need to keep it up for the 80,” he said.

“Our defence last time was pretty good. We want to carry that on. We don’t want a repeat of the first round.”

The first time the Rams have played in the major semi-final since 2012, one thing he will be stressing to them is that they have to take their opportunities. 

They didn’t do that three weeks ago.

“Finals football is about that. You only get two or three opportunities each half and you’ve got to make the most of them,” he said.