CLINCHING two precious competition points on a cut-throat TRL premiership ladder is the number one target.

Winning a spot in next weekend's prestigious Madsen-Rasmussen trophy final will merely be a bonus for the Pittsworth Danes who tomorrow take on the league's toughest current gig when they greet Valleys in a top-of-the-table clash at home.

This weekend's round of matches marks the end of the first round of fixtures and in one of the tightest competition's seen in recent years four teams remain in contention for a spot in next week's final set aside for the two leading sides at the season's half-way mark.

Valleys head the ladder on 17 points and can only miss a trophy final berth if Pittsworth (15) and Warwick (15) win their respective matches by big margins.

Warwick is at home tomorrow to sixth-placed Gatton.

Also in the Madsen-Rasmussen mix is Newtown on 14 premiership points.

The Lions can steal a final berth if both Pittsworth and Warwick are beaten with a home victory tomorrow over Oakey.

Pittsworth coach Craig Markey said his team's mission tomorrow is to avoid possibly dropping from second to fourth on the ladder.

“It would be an honour to make the Madsen-Rasmussen final, don't get me wrong,” he said.

“But we'll be chasing two points first, and if we can get those the rest will look after itself from there.

“A loss this weekend could be costly for us as far as the premiership ladder goes.”

Following what Markey describes as a “couple of flat weeks” from the Danes he'll be looking for his team to return to the basics tomorrow as they attempt to end Valleys surge.

“We've lost Trent Smith and we have a few with the wog,” he said.

“But we need to concentrate on ourselves and not worry about what Valleys might be doing.

“Ball control is one of the areas we'll need to focus on.”