The Redcliffe Dolphins are looking to come out of the blocks firing against the Burleigh Bears in Sunday's Intrust Super Cup grand final at Suncorp Stadium.
The Dolphins have had sluggish starts in both of their finals encounters, trailing the Bears 28-0 at half-time in week two, and trailing 12-6 against Sunshine Coast at half-time in their week three encounter.
Burleigh went on to win 40-24 at Dolphin Oval, but Adam Mogg's men didn't make the same mistake twice, coming back to thrash the Falcons 38-16 the following week and booking a grand final spot in the process.
Despite last week's positive result, captain Sam Anderson wants more from his team after two consecutive poor starts.
"We can't put the slow starts down to anything. We always train well, and our coach Adam Mogg always gets into us about starting well," Anderson said.
"We feel like the starts are improving, but we'll need to be a lot better on Sunday against Burleigh. We're continuing to work on it.
"Adam gets into us at half-time when we've started poorly.
"He's an honest coach. He doesn't need to yell or scream. He just tells us the truth and we respond to that in the second half."
Mogg has worked wonders at Redcliffe this year, with his side finishing minor premiers at the end of the regular season.
This top-of-the-table finish allowed the Dolphins to have a week off heading into their week two finals clash against Burleigh, but in the process it stalled any momentum Redcliffe had put together, and because of this they were well beaten.
After disposing of Sunshine Coast last weekend, it means Redcliffe will now come into the grand final on the back of a win and full of confidence – something they can use to their advantage.
"To be honest, having a week off in the first week of finals didn't do us much good," Anderson said.
"We started very poorly against Burleigh after that week off so hopefully playing consecutive matches will hold us in good stead for the grand final come Sunday."
Sunday afternoon will be the first time Anderson has played at Lang Park since his 2014 appearance when his NSW Residents were defeated 24-16 by the Queensland Residents.
The Redcliffe captain said that although Suncorp Stadium has some bad memories, it would always be a privilege to play on a field with such history.
"I've played here before. I haven't had the best results playing here so hopefully that can change on Sunday," he said.
"I'm just excited to be back out here. You don't get too many opportunities to run out onto Suncorp Stadium so I'm really looking forward to it."
