First glance at the LVFNL ladder and it appears the premiership race is down to two teams - Pyramid Hill and Mitiamo.
The Bulldogs and Superoos finished two-and-half games clear in the top two positions and the vast majority of premiership talk in 2019 has centred on the two clubs.
While conceding he Bulldogs and Superoos are deserved favourites, Bears-Lagoon Serpentine coach Greg Gadsden said the LVFNL finals series had the potential to be much tighter than many would expect.
Gadsden's Bears tackle Mitiamo in Saturday's qualifying final at Marong, with the winner to take on Pyramid Hill in the second semi-final.
In Sunday's elimination final at Pyramid Hill, MGYCW will start favourite against Calivil United.
"If you look at the results through the course of the year the teams in the top four have all beaten each other,'' Gadsden said.
"Pyramid Hill was beaten by MGYCW a couple of weeks ago, we beat Mitiamo four or five weeks ago and Mitiamo and Pyramid Hill have beaten each other.
"Pyramid Hill and Mitiamo deserve to be rated out in front, but I think it will be a very interesting finals series.
"If we play our best footy then I think we can match it with Pyramid Hill and Mitiamo, but in finals you have to bring your best footy each week otherwise you don't get near it.
"Hopefully, our boys can do that to give ourselves a chance."
Mitiamo's star trio - midfielder Dougie Thomas and key forwards Tyrone Downie and Justin Maddern - didn't play against the Bears a month ago.
Related: Weekend footy teams
"Mitiamo has a quality midfield and forward line, so we hope we can keep them to a reasonable total,'' Gadsden said.
"The game will be won and lost in the midfield, so if we can break even there or slightly get on top then we can give ourselves enough opportunities to score."
BL-Serpentine expect to be strengthened by the return of classy midfielder Harry Gadsden.
Harry suffered a whiplash injury about 20 minutes into the second quarter of the game at Newbridge a fortnight ago.
The game was held up for more than 30 minutes waiting for an ambulance and paramedics to arrive to attend to Harry, under AFL Victoria rules the match was called off and declared a draw given it was before half-time. He was taken to Bendigo Hospital where he was cleared of any major injury.
"Harry should play. He didn't train last week and he's had a fair bit of treatment over the past couple of weeks,'' Greg Gadsden said
"He just has one more test to pass today and if he gets through that, which we expect he should, then he'll be right to go."
After creating plenty of headlines off the field in the past month, MGYCW and Calivil United's sole focus will be on the field in Sunday's elimination final.
The Eagles defeated the Demons by three points in round five before Calivil was awarded the round 14 game on the back of a MGYCW points cap error.
Related: MGYCW best performed club in LVFNL
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