The final round of competition was postponed for a week, because of Sir Colin's death, and Shortall said that halted the side's momentum a little but he was confident they would still be ready to go against Maniapoto.
"They're not a big team, but they are very well organised. We'll need to get those basics right, hold on to the ball in possession and when we don't have it just defend our hearts out."
In their last game Central went down 81-5 to Te Awamutu, who play Hamilton in the cup final at the same ground today.
"They were just too strong for us. It's about working closer together - two in the tackle and not leaving it for your mate to do.
"Our guys were mighty, they tried their hearts out, they carried well but turned the ball over a little too much. As we got tired our defence just started to fall away."
He said retaining the bowl would mean a lot and provide "a little bit of redemption".
"It's not going to be easy, but we'll go there and give it a crack."
Moving on he wanted to see the Central sub-union become more professional and put more onus on clubs to get involved with the side.
"Players that are selected need to front - to this stage it's been more of a 'if you're keen come along' sort of thing. Looking at the Pro 4 series and this competition, it has to be a little bit better than that.
"These competitions expose our guys to higher honours and the more you play the more you learn. That applies to coaches as well.
"Even that game against Te Awamutu, we learnt a lot about playing at a higher level," he said.
The game kicks off at 1pm at Rugby Park in Te Kuiti and will be followed by the cup final at 2.30pm.
