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READ MORE - Weekend football teams
WITH three of their past four meetings decided by less than a kick, the North Central league finals series has the makings of a thrilling opening when Charlton and Donald meet on Saturday.
The Navies and Royals will clash in the first semi-final at Birchip's George Cartwright Oval from 2.30pm.
The recent trend between the two sides is their games going down to the wire.
Among their past four clashes have been a pair of wins to Charlton by four points and a six-point victory for Donald.
Although, their last meeting in round 13 was a comfortable 34-point victory for Charlton.
Saturday will be the Navies' first taste of finals action since their 2016 grand final win and they will go in as favourites, with the only teams they have lost to this year being the two power sides in Sea Lake Nandaly and Birchip-Watchem, who have the weekend off.
Meanwhile, Birchip-Watchem star Nathan Gordon has finished No.1 in the Addy's NCFL player rankings.
The rankings use a system of 6-5-4-3-2-1 points based on the weekly best players, with a weighting towards contributions to a winning team.
1 - Nathan Gordon (Birchip-Watchem)
Points: 137.5 In Best: 11
2 - Mitchell Gleeson (Charlton)
Points: 120.0 In Best: 12
3 - Wade Donnan (Sea Lake Nandaly)
Points: 106.5 In Best: 9
4 - Fraser House (Birchip-Watchem)
Points: 106.0 In Best: 11
5 - Thomas Finlay (Charlton)
Points: 95.5 In Best: 11
6 - Sam Simmons (Birchip-Watchem)
Points: 94.0 In Best: 9
7 - James Wall (Donald)
Points: 93.5 In Best: 12
8 - Conlan Gunn (St Arnaud)
Points: 92.5 In Best: 11
9 - Dale Hinkley (Birchip-Watchem)
Points: 90.5 In Best: 8
10 - Jacob Christie (Birchip-Watchem)
Points: 89.5 In Best: 7
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