by Nicholas Duck

The Warragul Warriors will head into their upcoming finals campaign full of confidence in both the men's and the women's leagues after both sides secured final round victories against Sale Sonics on Saturday.

Playing away from home it was a strong showing from the club's two senior teams, the men taking home a thumping 127-74 win while the women completed their unbeaten home and away season with a 77-53 victory.
Both teams will now feature in the post season action with semi finals beginning this Saturday.
The Warriors women will have a lot of hype surrounding their campaign as they enter as the number one seed, while the Warriors men come in as the number four seed.
Playing first up the women's side would have been keen to avoid any late season slip-ups, particularly in the absence of superstar Skye Rees, who sat the game out.
Against a relatively young and inexperienced Sale side there was little reason for concern, the Warriors putting themselves in a powerful position early by beginning the game with a 17-0 run.
As they maintained a comfortable lead from there on, head coach Tony Marcucci was able to swing the magnets a bit, giving his starters some rest and playing a few names that had perhaps not seen as much court time throughout the year.
Star recruit Samantha Labros once again top scored for the visitors with 25 points - including two three-pointers - while Beth Quadara put up 13.
Marcucci said post-game that while there had been a lot to like about his side's season thus far it was important not to get complacent.
"We've got a pretty good line-up, makes it pretty easy to to coach when you've got the players," he said.
"The pressure is on us this week. We've got to focus on what we do well and make sure we're putting in that effort, or at least more effort than our opposition."
The Warriors women will face Morwell Magic this weekend at home with the exact date and time to be decided. The Warriors defeated Magic by 27 points during their meeting earlier this year.
It was then the men's turn to get the job done on the court, which they did in style with a thumping win to head into their semi final full of confidence.
The Warriors were almost untouchable at times during their 53-point thrashing, racing out to a near-30 point lead before the end of the first quarter and never looking back.
An impressive eight different Warragul players all hit double digits on the scoreboard, with Xavier Adams (20 points) the leader of the pack.
"I don't think I've seen it before," head coach Michael Bridgman said of the effort.
"We've got the depth that other teams don't have, it's just a lot of them are still pretty young."
It finishes their year with a seven and three record, putting them into fourth position due to their loss earlier this year to third placed Maffra despite a better percentage.
The Warriors will face off with number one seed Traralgon T-Birds.
The bad news is the T-Birds suffered just one defeat during their campaign and are coming into the semi final off the back of seven straight wins.
The good news is that one loss was to Warragul.
The Warriors shot the lights out in that particular clash, something Bridgman is more than aware of.
"We need to stick to our principles especially on defence and keep our heads. If we do those things and we happen to shoot the ball well we'll be looking alright."
Like the women, the exact time and date of their final is yet to be finalised, though Traralgon is expected to host.