IT’S taken a lot longer than Forefront defender Leighanne Ward wanted it to, but her side has finally come together.

The side, established in the lead up to the 2015 Orange Netball Association Toyota Cup, has been plagued by injuries in the opening four rounds of the competition, but is set to field a full side today against heavyweights Life Studio.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries, so we haven’t been able to field a full side yet,” Ward said.

“But you can’t help injuries, so we’ve dealt with it but hopefully having everyone (today) will really help us.”

A lack of preparation hasn’t made things easy for Forefront either, but the side was still able to secure a pre-winter victory over KWS 1sts in round three to stay in touch with the top four.

Crucially, aside from a 58-17 thrashing at the hands of seven-time consecutive premiers Robin Hood, Forefront has competed in its other two games.

“We haven’t been playing badly,” Ward said.

“But in saying that, we haven’t really had a proper training session yet either, because of those injuries.

“That’s really important, getting back into practice and working on what we need to. (Today) I think we just need to focus on the way we get the ball up and down the court.”

Easier said than done against a speedy, youthful Life Studio side which has lost just one game so far, to Robin Hood.

“They’re a young side, so we’ll let them try and use their speed,” Ward said.

“I think being an older side we’ll just try and slow it down, and control the tempo of the game.

“It would be great to win, but we’re just looking forward to a full, hard game of netball.”

Forefront and Life Studio lock horns at Orange PCYC from 3.50pm.

In other round five action, Hawks - BCC open the day’s play against The Vipers, undefeated competition leaders Robin Hood clash with OHS High A (2.30pm) and Royal Hawks take on KWS 1sts (2.30pm).