What to look forward to in this weekend's football across the region

These two clubs have played plenty of big Bendigo league games against each other over the years - most notably a string of three-consecutive grand finals between 2017 and 2019.

There's certainly nowhere near those stakes on Saturday given the calendar is still in April, but none-the-less it's an important early litmus test against each other.

While it's still very much early days in season 2024 you can conceivably forecast ahead where it's the Storm and Hawks jostling it out for a spot in the top three alongside Sandhurst and Gisborne.

The Storm have adjusted well to life under new coach Luke Freeman with a pair of wins over South Bendigo and Golden Square - both by 28 points - to build some early momentum.

The Hawks are 1-0 having opened their season with a 19-point win over Golden Square a fortnight ago before the bye last week.

A big inclusion for the Hawks for this clash with the return of aggressive key position player and assistant coach Clayton Holmes after serving a suspension stemming from last year's first semi-final loss to the Storm.

The Hawks unveiled new ruckman Brayden Frost from Harcourt in round one against Golden Square and he immediately showed what a valuable acquisition he will be with 49 hit-outs and 18 disposals to be his side's No.1 ranked player by Premier Data with 129 points.

Despite the dominance of Frost the Hawks were beaten 54-31 in clearances according to Premier Data, but you'd expect the Hawks to get more clearance bang for buck the more the midfield group such as Billy Evans, Ben Thompson, Joel Mullen and co become accustomed to the traits of Frost.

Will be a bit of a different look to a Strathfieldsaye v Eaglehawk game without the match-up Hawks' defender Oscar Madden on the Storm's Lachlan Sharp, who is now at Bridgewater.

Sharp v Madden had been one of the BFNL's most enthralling forward v defender match-ups of recent years.

You've got to be a reasonably rusted on Castlemaine supporter to recall the last time the Magpies defeated Golden Square.

It was 19 years ago in round 17 of 2005 - the day was August 13 to be exact and notable for two reasons.

Not only would it be the last time the Magpies beat the Bulldogs before embarking on an enduring drought against Golden Square that has now reached 34 losses in a row - half of them by more than 100 points - but it was also the day legendary Castlemaine full-forward Steven Oliver kicked his 1000^th goal for the club.

Oliver booted 13 goals that day at Camp Reserve and the Magpies annihilated Golden Square by 124 points en route to what remains their last appearance in the finals.

On Saturday a genuine opportunity presents for the Magpies to finally rid themselves of the Bulldogs hoodoo against a youthful 2024 version of the Bulldogs.

The reigning premier Bulldogs are 0-2 for the first time since 2004 having already dropped games to Eaglehawk and Strathfieldsaye during which they've kicked just 14 goals in perfect conditions, with the pinch of losing star goalkicker Joel Brett among the host of outs not surprisingly already being felt at Wade Street.

The talk around the BFNL in the off-season was that the Bulldogs would be on the slide after losing half their premiership side and the Magpies on the up after a fruitful recruiting campaign under new coach Michael Hartley and it will be intriguing on Saturday just to see how the dynamics intersect against each other.

The Magpies came up short in their first major test against South Bendigo last week in a 42-point loss in a game where they were more competitive than that result suggests.

No doubt one of the focuses of the Magpies in their re-emergence this year is once again to make Camp Reserve a formidable place to play at for visiting teams.

What better way early in the season to show that than against the reigning premiers.

There was plenty of talk during the off-season in the HDFNL that Heathcote and White Hills would be the two clear-cut teams to beat this year.

So far both the Saints and Demons have held up their end of the bargain, but you can add North Bendigo into that top bracket of contenders.

While the Saints (3-0) and Demons (3-0) have both got off to strong starts, the Bulldogs are also up and about early with back-to-back wins over Elmore (58 points) and Leitchville-Gunbower (89) to get their season rolling.

You sense there's a real resolve among the Bulldogs this year after the disappointing end to the past two seasons - knocked out in straight sets last year and beaten in the elimination final in 2022.

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Captain Aarryn Craig has led the charge early in the season for the Bulldogs with a couple of standout games across half-back and prized midfield signing Ryan Hartley has wasted no time asserting his influence either.

A mouthwatering April clash between two genuine contenders awaits on Saturday at Barrack Reserve.

Similar to Castlemaine hosting Golden Square, there's that question hovering over Heathcote of how will the Saints stand up against what has been a long-time nemesis?

The Saints have lost 19-straight games against the Bulldogs, with their last win against North Bendigo back in round 16 of 2013.

The Bulldogs are the only side the Saints are yet to conquer under Andrew Saladino's coaching reign that began in 2022, which probably speaks to some of the reason why he earlier this week labelled North Bendigo the competition's No.1 seed.

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There was a school of thought heading into the Loddon Valley league this year that the competition at the top would tighten right up and be less predictable.

Marong cast an enormous shadow over the competition last year with a brutal level of dominance that at one stage included winning nine-consecutive games by more than 100 points.

Full credit to Pyramid Hill for making a genuine fist of it against Marong in the grand final last year with the final margin just 16 points, but there was always that feeling of inevitably from the outset in 2023 that the Panthers would again win the flag just as they had done in 2022.

While the trio of Bridgewater, Pyramid Hill and Bears Lagoon-Serpentine all look formidable this year, two rounds in Marong has already shown it's going to take a mighty effort by one of their challengers to be dethroned.

The Panthers have disposed of Mitiamo (147 points) and Newbridge (157 points) with ruthless ease in their first two games, which is why their first significant challenge on Saturday is eagerly-awaited.

And it just happens to be the grand final re-match at home against Pyramid Hill.

It has been just under two years to the day (April 30, 2022) that Marong was last beaten when the Panthers fell to Pyramid Hill by 12 points.

Since then the Panthers have peeled off 34 wins in a row ahead of this battle with the Bulldogs.

What lessons have the Bulldogs learned from last year's grand final and can they prove that the LVFNL's giant can be slayed?

Yes, this game in the North Central league does loom as a mis-match with the battling Saints up against the premiership hopeful Bulls.

But the game is notable for a couple of one-off inclusions for the Saints.

The Saints side will include former AFL player Josh Caddy and NRL player Will Chambers, who following the match will be the guest speakers at St Arnaud's sportsman's night.

Caddy is a 174-game AFL player across stints with Gold Coast (24), Geelong (71) and Richmond (79) who played in the Tigers' 2017 and 2019 premierships.

And Chambers is not only a 226-game NRL player with the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks, but also a 13-time State of Origin player for Queensland and seven-time Australian representative.

Hopefully, the pair can add a bit of spark for the Saints on what looms as a tough day at the office.