However, the Magpies still have the opportunity to shape the top five over the final seven weeks of the season and have a say on the finals aspirations of several clubs.

Kangaroo Flat, Eaglehawk, Sandhurst, and - to a lesser extent - Castlemaine are all vying for positions four and five on the ladder come the finals.

Aside from Sandhurst, who they have already played twice, the Magpies still have three of those sides left to play, starting with Castlemaine at Camp Reserve today.

Castlemaine still has its finals hopes flickering on the back of three consecutive victories over Kyneton, Strathfieldsaye and Gisborne, although, the Magpies still remain two games outside the top five.

But a loss today to Maryborough would all but extinguish Castlemaine’s hopes of marking its 150th year with a return to the finals for the first time since 2005.

“Since I’ve been at Maryborough (since 2008), even though we’ve only played three games against them, we’ve had a good rivalry with Castlemaine,’’ Maryborough coach Shane Fisher said yesterday.

“Again in this game, there will be little rivalries all over the ground and one-on-one contests that we look forward to.

“But for us, it’s just about being in the contest for as long as we can.

“If it gets towards the end of the game and we’re still right in it, then there’s no reason why we can’t beat Castlemaine.’’

Since Fisher took over as Maryborough coach last year, his side has beaten Castlemaine in all three of their meetings by margins of 17, 66 and 13 points.

“It’s very tough playing Castlemaine at Castlemaine,’’ Fisher said.

“Aside from Gisborne, their home ground advantage is probably as big as any in the league.

“We have beaten them three times, but in two of those occasions we have probably been lucky in that we have played ordinary football for a period, and then played well towards the end.

“But we can’t get ourselves into a position like that again at Castlemaine, otherwise we will find ourselves in trouble.’’Earlier this season in round three at Princes Park, Castlemaine had led at each of the first three breaks, but was overrun in the final term by Maryborough, which won 9.15 (69) to 7.14 (56).