Coach of the Pirates Staff Hurlston said there were two occasions that sparked the turn around and he said the improvement has been evident.

"We sat down a couple of weeks ago and had a chat as a team that now was the time we had to dig in," he said.

"We basically said we need everyone to fully commit and if they can't there's no bad feelings they can just go back and play reserve grade and we can move on.

"The other was when George Jones started with us and it was the same game that Korie Paio and Addam Greenaway came back and we beat uni by 50 something.

"Those were the real turning points."

And despite recording another loss last weekend, Hurlston couldn't have been happier with his players.

The Pirates went down 29-14 to competition front runners the Hastings Valley Vikings.

But it was their second half performance that had the coach brimming with confidence.

"Take nothing away from the Vikings they played fantastic footy in the first half," he said.

"But we came out in the second half and played great.

"We were a lot closer than the score suggests because they scored late in the game.

"But we won the second half and to do that against such a strong team shows me that we've got what it takes, we've taken a lot of positives out of that."

A win this week and a win the following week against Southern Cross means the Pirates will shore up second spot on the ladder.

The game will kick off at 3pm at Stuart Park.