Four rounds remain in the North Gippsland Football League season and the finals picture continues to intrigue.
Heyfield, TTU, Rosedale, Cowwarr, Churchill and Glengarry are locked in a six-way battle for the five finals spots.
At this stage, the only team that looks safe in the five is top-side Heyfield, which boasts a one-game buffer at the top of the table on the back of three wins in a row.

So who misses out on September?

Its crunch time for WOODSIDE coach Chris Pettitt and his chargers. Occupying a top five position for the first half of the fixture, there has been little to celebrate for the wailing Wildcats who after a barnstorming opening six rounds have fallen by the wayside registering only a further two wins.

Dropping matches against Boisdale/Briagolong and Gormandale, both of which they were highly fancied to win will cost the side dearly as the leading quartet begins to settle and the highly sought after fifth position begins to slip from their grasp.

Boasting one of the toughest runs of the tail end of the fixture, the Wildcats this Saturday host ROSEDALE, before critical matches against Cowwarr, Glengarry and TTU all of which are in contention for a top five finish.
Coming into the contest on the back of a loss which saw the Blues slip to third position, Rosedale will be eager for a strong performance as they look to lock in the prized double chance.

Conceding a match winning lead in the atrocious conditions in the opening term against Churchill, the Blues will aim for a dominating start to the contest to ensure their season remains on track.

The stakes will have never been higher in Saturdays clash between rivals sixth placed GLENGARRY and fifth placed CHURCHILL.
For perennial finalists Glengarry their chances of playing finals come seasons end are slowly slipping from within their grasp. Relegated outside the five by percentage, the Magpies may rue the ones that got away throughout the season. The side dropping four of their opening five games which may prove more than costly.

Coming into the contest on the back of a six day break, Glengarry will need to start strongly against the Cougars who in their earlier round six encounter blew the Magpies off the field with a blistering 10 goal to one opening half with Brad Knowles, Brendan Holt and Joey Whykes the catalysts in the forward line.

Neither side can confidently say that they have locked in their hold on a top of the table finish, and with the home straight to finals ahead the two contenders can ill afford to drop too many more on the way to September action. With a mere four percentage points separating the two sides, there is little but a toss of a coin left to decide the result of the biggest clash of round 15.

The gap between the competitions top quartet and SALE CITY continues to grow with the two time premier of 2010-2011 season all but over.

Feeling the effects of an endless list of departures, coach Joel Brayshaw knows that the sides attack on season 2014 starts now and is confident that his side will reward themselves with a big win in the closing stages of the season.

While still focused on the games to come, Brayshaw is fully aware that the sides win loss ledger at seasons end could determine whose signatures they can secure as they aim to recruit the services of a number of key position senior players.

"Where we are at come seasons end will go a long way to seeing who we can secure for next year.

"We are still focused on this year and winning as many games as we can, at the back of our minds it would be easier to get the recruits if we get the results," said Brayshaw

More than competitive in matches over the past month, Brayshaw describes his sides form at present as reasonable.
"Were playing reasonable footy at the moment, we started well against Cowwarr and then let ourselves down in the second quarter which made it hard in the conditions to get back into the game going into the break three goals down.
"This week will be big, hopefully we can be in the game again as we were in our earlier meeting before we lost Matt Lutze during the contest," said Brayshaw.

Noting that the sides captain Lutze is a barometer for the side's success, with the presence of Lutze around the ground, his leadership and ability to provide his team mates with first touch of the ball, Brayshaw feels that with Lutze and the young pups solid form they will be competitive.

"It might sound silly but I feel that we have a chance to win, if we play our best footy and come ready to go then we will be competitive," said Brayshaw.

In previous years TTU has found themselves in the unenviable position under pressure just to make finals, however things have changed with the Bombers on song to break to take part in finals action for the first time in nine seasons.

While the result of the contest between competition cellar dwellers BOISDALE/BRIAGOLONG and GORMANDLE will have no bearing on the outcome of the top five, the result will be just reward for either team who have shown continued development and improvement this season despite their ladder ranking.

In one of the most even seasons, the Bombers and Tigers while not boasting an impressive win ledger have dictated matches on their terms and could have a major impact in shaping the final five.

When HEYFIELD and COWWARR meet one thing is certain they never fail to disappoint.
Finding themselves in a similar situation to that of last year, the Saints are likely to fight it out against Churchill and Glengarry in the final four weeks for a position in the five.

But between now and then they have two tough encounters against top of the table Heyfield and TTU, depending on how the coin falls in other matches they may very well have to wait until the final siren in round 18 for the fate of the clubs finals ambitions to be sealed.

The Saints will meet Heyfield and Woodside over the coming fortnight, while Glengarry appear to have the tougher run in the closing rounds of the draw meeting Churchill and Rosedale, the Magpies dropping their earlier clash against the Cougars. While for Churchill it doesn't get any harder than the reigning premiers in the final round of the season.

While there is plenty riding on the result for Cowwarr, the match is just as crucial for Heyfield who over the past month has struggled to hit top gear. Sitting on top of the ladder standings, the reigning champs hold on the minor premiership title and prized weeks break isn't as strong as what it was over a month ago, with coach Adrian Cox fully aware of the stakes on the line this week.

By Lauren Carey