STAR recruit Angus Monfries is rated a 50-50 chance of lining up for Castlemaine in its BFNL match against Sandhurst at Camp Reserve this Saturday.

While he played the game out against Kangaroo Flat last round, Monfries - who has kicked 11 of Castlemaine's 26 goals so far - was hampered by a hamstring concern.

Castlemaine co-coach Derrick Filo says the Magpies won't be taking any risks with their prized signing.

"We're not sure about this week... we certainly won't be taking any risks with him," Filo said on Wednesday.

"He's optimistic that he may come up, but at this stage I'd say it's a 50-50 with Angus."

The Magpies are the only winless team in the competition and have already squandered three of their better winning opportunities with losses to Maryborough (15 points), Kyneton (65) and Kangaroo Flat (50).

Despite the pre-season signs pointing to more scoring potency this year for Castlemaine, the Magpies are again struggling to impact the scoreboard.

READ MORE - Castlemaine season preview

They have kicked scores of just 29, 64, 51, 33 and 25 in their five games, but haven't been helped by also possessing the worst conversion rate in the competition of just 36.1 per cent. The league average is 50.1 per cent.

"We thought at this stage we'd hopefully, have at least one or two wins on the board, so that's disappointing to be 0-5," Filo said.

"But we're confident that with the amount of talent we have, eventually it will click. With a lot of new players in the side we're still trying to get that chemistry right and we obviously want that to be sooner rather than later.

"We think we've got enough talent, but we just need to get that cohesion right and it's taking a bit longer to gel than we would have liked."

One of the Magpies' key recruits, experienced on-baller Mitch Hough (foot), hasn't played yet this season, nor has key position player Jesse Johnson.

* BFNL conversion rates:

Maryborough - 58.9%

Golden Square - 55.2%

South Bendigo - 52.7%

Eaglehawk - 52.6%

Kyneton - 52.6%

Strathfieldsaye - 52.1%

Gisborne - 51.4%

Sandhurst - 50.4%

Kangaroo Flat - 39.3%

Castlemaine - 36.1%

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