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LEITCHVILLE-Gunbower can take a major step towards avoiding a potential finals-on-the-line encounter against White Hills in the last round by knocking off Colbinabbin on Saturday.
If results over the next three weeks go as expected it would leave the likely scenario of Leitchville-Gunbower and White Hills battling in the final round for the last spot in the Heathcote District finals.
However, a win over Colbinabbin on Saturday and the Bombers would be well on the way to a seventh-straight finals campaign and almost shut the door on the Demons.
"With this game, we obviously want to take a scalp away from home against a quality side, but it also has the other significance of giving us the chance to cement ourselves in the the top five," Bombers coach Danny Teskera said on Friday.
"It's a great challenge to go to Colbinabbin and not just talk the talk, but walk the walk and get the job done."
Following the turnover of half their premiership team from last year and a new coach at the helm, the Bombers were slow out of the blocks, winning just one of their first four games.
But they have since gone 6-3 over their past nine games and now have an eight-point buffer inside the top five.
While they have beaten fourth-placed Mount Pleasant twice, the Bombers haven't been able to claim the scalp yet of one of the top three sides in North Bendigo (lost by 70 and 58); LBU (lost by 16 and 75); and Colbinabbin (lost by 16).
"We took Colbo on at Leitchy earlier in the year and it was probably a 10-minute lapse in the second quarter that cost us that day," Teskera said.
READ MORE - Weekend football teams
"We're really looking forward to having another crack at them; they are a good side that defends really well and is tough to score against, so we have to be mindful of that with the way we move the ball.
"We're really keen to make sure we give a good account of ourselves."
While they are far from the high-scoring team they have been of recent seasons - they are averaging 77 points per game compared to their premiership year averages of 121 in 2018 and 137 in 2017 - the Bombers still posses a dangerous array of forward weapons in the quartet of Jack Dye (33 goals), Jake Vandongen (26), Tyler Jones (22) and Daniel Coates (17).
However, the classy Coates will miss Saturday's clash with a hamstring strain, paving the way for defender Lachlan Martini to make his Bombers' senior debut.
Saturday's games - Elmore v North Bendigo, Colbinabbin v Leitchville-Gunbower, LBU v Mount Pleasant, Heathcote v White Hills. Huntly bye.
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Meanwhile, Saturday's North Central league round 13 is highlighted by the clash between Charlton and Donald.
With the Navies and Royals sitting third and fourth on the ladder the match-up looms as a potential first semi-final preview.
Saturday's games - Charlton v Donald, Birchip-Watchem v Boort, St Arnaud v Wedderburn, Wycheproof-Narraport v Sea Lake Nandaly.
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