Western Force coach Simon Cron has compared every challenge the side face in the battle for a first finals appearance in the Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific top six to climbing a mountain.
And he said if they conquer the Brumbies in Saturday night's Round 13 clash in Canberra (live on Stan Sport and 9Gem, kick off 5:35pm WST) there will still be bigger peaks to scale.
Cron said they started at the bottom of the mountain after walking off after every game.
"You've got to start at the bottom again and build up. A mistake would be that you start halfway up," he told reporters at Friday's CD Dodd Coaches’ Conference.
"Your recovery, your prep, what you're going to do on the Monday, Tuesday. You've got to build during the week.
"That's the mindset. When you're on the field you're trying to climb the summit.
"Once you reach the top of that peak there's always another one just behind it that's usually bigger."
The Brumbies will be desperate for success after winning just one of their last five matches, but Cron said the Force, with three wins from their last four games including back-to-back victories against the Crusaders and Waratahs, were developing a sharp edge knowing that every game is crucial.
"You've got to have an edge," he said. "Our boys have responded really well to having an edge, understanding the importance of every single game.
"That edge is getting stronger and stronger. We've been really firm and clear around review in expectations from games and as a result of that, ideally, we just keep getting better and better. That's our job."
Cron said a lot of work with high performance staff had gone into planning for away games and squad depth was crucial to combat travel fatigue.
"We had a great meeting earlier in the year around different initiatives...a lot of getting up and walking on the plane, constant compression, no caffeine after a certain time when we're changing time zones," he said.
"The travel is something that unless you do it you don't know what it feels like.
"Building a squad with some depth is really important so they can handle it.
"We can share the workload a little bit with the squad we have now."
Cron said he was happy to take the points in the last round 20-17 "ugly win" over the Waratahs but there was frustration in not finishing off opportunities.
He said there were 20 turnovers - 15 in key moments - where they overplayed and became overconfident.
"We started popping the ball over our head and under our legs," he said. "The key message for us this week is to be patient.
"We don't need to score on zero phase, one phase, two phase. You can build the pressure.
"The boys were frustrated as a result of how many entries we did have and how many we didn't execute.
"Review was pretty hard around why did we not finish it. We feel we can execute better and be better at.
"Belief in the team is important and it's important they believe in each other and can trust. We have to take learnings and move on."
Cron praised second-rower Darcy Swain who makes his 100th Super Rugby appearance in Canberra where he notched 76 caps for the Brumbies before moving to the Force last year.
"He's a family man through and through," Cron said.
"He's a consummate professional, brilliant line-out technician, great around the park and just a genuine great human.
"He adds a lot to our group. Fits in well with everybody. He adds so much value to the other guys around him."
Winger Dylan Pietsch will bring up his 50th Super cap and if Kurtley Beale comes from the bench he will make his 184th Super appearance, moving to within one of Aaron Smith and joint third in competition history.
Western Force starting side: 1 Tom Robertson, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 4 Jeremy Williams (c), 5 Darcy Swain, 6 Nick Champion de Crespigny (vc), 7 Carlo Tizzano, 8 Vaiolini Ekuasi, 9 Henry Robertson, 10 Ben Donaldson (vc), 11 Dylan Pietsch, 12 Hamish Stewart, 13 George Bridge, 14 Zac Lomax, 15 Mac Grealy.
Reserves: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Marley Pearce, 18 Sef Fa'agase, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Will Harris, 21 Nathan Hastie, 22 Bayley Kuenzle, 23 Kurtley Beale.
Brumbies starting side: 1 James Slipper, 2 Lachlan Lonergan, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Lachlan Shaw, 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Rory Scott, 8 Toby Macpherson, 9 Ryan Lonergan (c), 10 Declan Meredith, 11 Corey Toole, 12 David Feliuai, 13 Hudson Creighton, 14 Ollie Sapsford, 15 Tom Wright.
Reserves: 16, Billy Pollard, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Rhys van Nek, 19 Cadeyrn Neville, 20 Chris Mickelson, 21 Klayton Thorn, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Andy Muirhead.
Game details
ACT Brumbies vs Western Force
Saturday 9 May, 5:35pm WST
GIO Stadium, Canberra
Live on Stan Sport and 9Gem
