Last time the two teams clashed, in the opening round of the season, Heat walked away 37-goal victors in a 57-20 domination, but Job Done have moved to close the gap between themselves and the undefeated league leaders.

This time around it was 45-31 to Heat, who have now won two in a row against the team that pipped them at the post in the 2017 final, 42-30.

Heat coach Helen Grogan believes the scoreline may have been due to wandering minds in her squad, many of whom will play in the upcoming State Championships.

“It was obvious in the second half a number of players had ‘staying fit for the championships’ on their minds,” Grogan said, but also pointed at Job Done’s strong offence throughout the clash. “[They] stayed strong throughout, putting the wind up our usually consistent defence.”

The Heat squad is struggling with a number of those “niggling injuries”, with up to five of their team carrying different degrees of knocks and lingering problems, Grogran revealed.

Elsewhere, Watters retained the 2-point margin between themselves and Heat with a 52-38 win over Purnells, while Central Crossfire charged to a 51-22 win over United Fury. United Sass were awarded a default win due to a forfeit by Fever.

TABLE: Heat (24), Watters (22), Crossfire (18), Purnells (16), Job Done (15), Sass (13), Fever (9), Fury (8).