The Sharks looked gone a month ago when they sat second last on the table, but three wins from their past four matches has moved them to sixth, only two points behind fifth-placed Yenda.

It’s been a gutsy resurrection, but Kelly said there was plenty of hard work ahead for the Sharks, starting with Sunday’s home match against bottom-placed Leeton.

“I’d say to give ourselves every chance (to make finals), we have to win the rest of our games,” Kelly said.

“We’ve got Leeton this week. We’ll start with that, get a good preparation and hopefully get a win.

“But in saying that they’re going to be pretty hungry. We’re the only team they’ve beaten this year, so they’ll be confident coming out here.

“We’ve just got to concentrate on this week and get it over with because we’ve got a tough couple of games ahead.”

Kelly would love to contribute on the field, but last season’s Group 20 Player of the Year has been ruled out for the rest of 2015 with a serious back problem.

A natural competitor, Kelly found it tough watching from the sideline when the Sharks were struggling.

“It was definitely hard that period,” he said.

“But we’ve won three of our past four games, which is pretty pleasing.

“The last two losses we had before that we were pretty competitive in the games. The West Wyalong game was a bit of a hiccup, but we’ve built some momentum now.

“Hopefully we can keep it going into the finals if we get there.”

The Sharks’ most recent victory was on Sunday against the Hay Magpies, who are also walking the finals tightrope.

Kelly said the 16-8 away win was set up by a strong first half.

“It was a tough, grinding game. It always is out there,” he said.

“It was lucky we got off to a good start. It was 16-nil at half-time. 

“We had a good first half, but we took the foot off the throat when we went back out there.”