West Coast Fever are one win away from likely sealing a seventh straight finals appearance when they meet Melbourne Mavericks this week, a game that also carries the weight of a first postseason berth in club history for the visitors.

For Amy Parmenter, the stakes are obvious. The Mavericks captain said her side has spent most of the season inside the top four and needs to finish the job now, not wait for the last round and a chain of other results to do it for them. “We’ve definitely got a lot to play for this weekend,” she said.

That urgency is why the Fever meeting is drawing attention now. West Coast have put themselves within reach of another finals campaign, while Melbourne are still chasing a maiden finals appearance and want to take control of their fate. Parmenter said the group wants to “lock it in and go ahead with the confidence that we will have a spot in finals,” rather than have the season decided elsewhere.

The Mavericks also have a score to settle with Fever after their last match against them. Parmenter said her side was down by 10 plus at quarter time after a poor opening and admitted the start left them disappointed, even if the rest of the game showed what they are capable of against the competition benchmark. “We saw what we could do against them during the rest of the match,” she said, adding that the opening quarter had been the difference.

Melbourne have tried to keep that lesson in view without changing their routine. Parmenter said the team has kept the same processes all season and has been careful not to let a few wins breed complacency. That has mattered in a year when the Mavericks have become familiar with life inside the top four or hovering just underneath it, and when one more lapse could still cost them the position they have worked to protect.

There is also the practical strain of the week itself. Parmenter said the team has had a lot of travel recently and has been doing extra work in recovery ahead of the trip to Perth, where the Fever await. That adds another layer to a match that already has direct consequences: Fever can move to the brink of finals, and the Mavericks can strengthen their hold on a breakthrough that has eluded the club until now.

Parmenter said confidence has been a useful guide for Melbourne, but she was blunt about the risk of letting the picture stay open too long. The Mavericks do not want their season decided by someone else’s result in the final game, and Fever will know that a win this week could close one door while opening another for the team in blue and gold.