History says if Strathfieldsaye defeats Gisborne in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash then the Storm have one foot in the BFNL grand final.
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A Storm victory on home soil on Saturday would give them a two-game buffer on second-placed Gisborne with five rounds remaining and the minor premiership would be virtually locked in.
While five rounds of football suggests anything could happen, the Storm's final five games are against the bottom five teams and, let's face it, the prospect of two of those clubs upstaging the Storm is as likely as Lleyton Hewitt sending Bernard Tomic a Christmas card.
You have to go all the way back to Maryborough in 1997 to find the last BFNL minor premier that failed to qualify for the grand final.
13 of the past 21 minor premiers have gone on to win the premiership.
From a Gisborne point of view, the game means more than just keeping the minor premiership race alive.
The Bulldogs haven't defeated the powerful Storm since round seven, 2013, and a breakthrough victory on Saturday would do wonders for their confidence five weeks out from the finals.
Gisborne has every right to be confident.
Classy midfielder Ethan Minns and star forward Pat McKenna return giving the Bullogs, on paper at least, their strongest team this season.
Number one ruckman Josh Grabham is the only notable absentee.
Despite sitting pretty on top of the ladder, Strathfieldsaye continues to make multiple changes at the selection table.
This week the Storm were forced to make five changes.
Will Wallace, Riley Wilson and James Schischka return to the Bendigo Pioneers, key defender Ben Lester is injured, while their most important absentee is the in-form Bailey Henderson, who will play in Sunday's AFL Victoria Young Guns game.
Lachie Gill resumes from an illness, while Daniel Clohesy, Torin Petrie, Lachlan Ratcliffe and Jack Shannahan were promoted from the reserves.
Storm coach Troy Coates resisted the temptation of selecting premiership player Harry Conway after one game back from injury in the reserves.
Sandhurst will blood two first-gamers for its trip to Maryborough.
Bendigo Pioneers-listed Cobi Maxted and classy forward Jasper Stewart have been rewarded for their impressive form at lower levels.
They were two of six changes for a Dragons side that needs to secure the four points to keep their top three hopes alive.
Even without former Essendon, Western Bulldogs and Geelong forward Stewart Crameri, Maryborough is a much tougher assignment on its home deck.
The Magpies have a 3-2 record at home this year, with their only poor performance a heavy loss to Strathfieldsaye.
Kangaroo Flat has had little to cheer about this season.
The Roos have a 2-10 record and have not taken the step forward that some inside the club were expecting.
Put all that aside, the Roos' playing group has two great opportunites in the final six rounds to give its loyal home fans something to cheer about.
The first is on Saturday when the club hosts Kyneton, while the second is on August 10 against South Bendigo.
With ruckman Nick Lang, full-forward Matt Boland and experienced defender Ross Turner back in the senior side, there's no excuse for the Roos to put up a poor performance against the Tigers on Saturday.
Kyneton snapped a five-game losing streak with a solid performance against bottom side Castlemaine last week.
The Tigers' fab four - Max O'Sullivan, Rhys Magin, Josh Govan and Hamish Govan - had a big impact on the game through the middle of the ground last week.
If that quartet take over again on Saturday then the Roos are in for another long afternoon.
Growing up, Brodie Filo probably gave his old man Derrick plenty of sleepless nights.
Those sleepless nights probably returned this week as Derrick tried to plot how to stop his son in Saturday's Castlemaine-Eaglehawk clash at Camp Reserve.
Brodie will spearhead Eaglehawk's deep midfield against a battling Castlemaine team co-coached by his father, Derrick, and uncle, Shawn.
The winless Magpies were quite good against Eaglehawk in the first term of their corresponding game earlier in the year at Canterbury Park, but once the floodgates opened the Borough dismantled them by 121 points.
To make matters worse for Castlemaine, Eaglehawk is in much better form now compared to round four.
On top of Brodie Filo's recent arrival, the Hawks have a better balance across the park and they're getting a great spread of contributors.
Golden Square should get the four points against South Bendigo at the QEO.
All eyes will be on Golden Square's Travis Baird as he makes a late season bid to build his match fitness for a finals campaign.
Baird has only played nine senior games in the past two years because of a string of injuries.
If he can stay on the park he has the ability to play a crucial role for the Dogs as a key defender or key forward.
His younger brother Adam Baird and South Bendigo coach Nathan Horbury return to BFNL action after helping Victoria Country to victory over the VAFA in last Saturday's Brian Molony Cup clash.
The Bulldogs did lose an in-form player to other representative duties, with Jake Thrum selected to play in Sunday's AFL Victoria Young Guns game.
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