Belmont Lions can take a giant step towards a historic third consecutive finals appearance if it can return from their meeting with Werribee Centrals at Symal Oval with an 11th win of the season.
The Lions haven’t played in finals three years in a row since the GDFNL returned to a single-division format in 1996.
Victory for last year’s beaten semi-finalists, coupled with a loss for Bell Post Hill, which faces third-placed North Geelong, would give them a one-game break with two rounds to play.
However, a loss to the Centurions and a win for the Panthers would see the Lions drop out of the five ahead of meeting Thomson and Bell Post Hill to round out the home-and-away season.
An upset win by seventh-placed Inverleigh over second-placed Winchelsea could see the Lions drop to seventh if all results went against them.
It’s a scenario not lost on gun Lions youngster Ben McPherson.
“It’s one of the closest leagues in Victoria at the moment, where it’s more whoever shows up on the day is going to be the team that wins,” the vice-captain told K rock Football’s Beyond the Boundary podcast.
“It’s interesting. It feels like any team can win on the day.”
If the Lions are to guarantee their spot inside the top five for another week, they’ll need to reverse the result of their Round 5 meeting at Winter Reserve.
On that afternoon, Werribee Centrals handed the home team an 89-point loss – the club’s heaviest defeat since the Brent Vermeulen-Andy Walsgott coaching combination took over ahead of the 2023 season.
“They gave us a bit of a touch-up… they served it to us,” McPherson said. “We took our learnings from that game.
“I think we’re a different team to what we were when we played Werribee a couple of months ago.
“So, we’ll just focus on what we have to do, and I’m sure the result will come from that.”
McPherson, who has kicked a career-best 46 goals for the season, sits sixth on the Wayne Tyquin Medal table, and he admits his form has piqued the interest of clubs at a higher level.
“I’ve had a couple of clubs reach out, but I’m not interested in following any of that up at the moment,” he said
“I just want to focus on this year and playing the rest of the games for this year and seeing how far Belmont can go, and I’ll worry about that stuff later on.”
Centrals have made three changes, welcoming back Josh Sutton and Liam Robinson from overseas, while Bryce Linehan-Cunningham returns from concussion.
They replace omitted trio Harrison Fulton, Damian Williams and Ethan Gibson.
Barring absolute calamity over the next three weeks, Winchelsea (2nd, 12-3) will play finals for the first time in 12 years.
However, the Blues can take another step towards St Albans Reserve if it can take care of Inverleigh (7th, 9-6) in the Battle of the Barwon.
They’ll welcome back Aaron Cooke and Caleb Brown. David Isister is being managed, with Tom Rouget returning to the reserves.
The Hawks welcome back Dalton Grundell at the expense of Logan Haberfield.
North Geelong (3rd, 11-4) will be boosted by the inclusion of Boston Riccardi and Noah Penny for its crucial clash with Bell Post Hill (6th, 10-5) at Keith Barclay Oval.
Riccardi was managed out of the win over Belmont Lions, with Penny returning via the reserves last week after being sidelined since Round 11.
They replace injured duo Mitch Habib and Luke Schwennesen.
The Panthers have made four changes.
Harvey and Tanner Martin, Banjo Hickey and Felix Jones replace Ethan Coffey, Riley Dixon, Matt Hogan, and Harry McIntyre.
East Geelong (4th, 10-5) has lost Jayden Fanning (hamstring) but promoted Angus Farrow for his first senior match for the club ahead of the trip to Victoria Park to take on Bannockburn (8th, 8-7)
Farrow arrived at Richmond Crescent in the off-season and has featured among the best players every week for the past month.
The Tigers, who need a win to remain in finals contention, will be without Gold Coast-based duo Jack Brauman (ankle) and Jayme Rekers.
However, key forward Henry Hawker is among the inclusions.
Corio (11th, 2-14) will be without spearhead Herschelle Carr as it chases its third win of the season against fellow strugglers Anakie (9th, 3-12) at AA Semi-Trailers Oval.
Carr, who leads the Devils goalkicking with 30 for the season, is serving a two-match suspension for an incident in last week’s win over Geelong West.
Corio has also lost Buckley Weber (soreness) and Mikali Harrison (unavailable) but welcomes back Jack Green and Max Roberts, and has promoted Kade Bergen.
An ankle injury has ended the season of Jacson Collins as Geelong West (12th, 0-15) chases its first win of 2026 when it meets Thomson (10th, 3-12) at Godfrey Street.
The Giants have made six changes to the team that was well beaten by Corio last week.
Bodhi Black returns to the under-18s, with Louis Bei, Lucas Wealands, Daniel Pollard and Riley Seresi-Unsworth omitted.
Billy Higgins, Dylan Kollegger, Tom Richmund, Ethan Sitlington, Taj Adams and Ayrton Bloink are the inclusions.
The Tigers have named Dylan Jose, despite the former Lara captain suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament earlier in the season.
Mitch Hodgson is also back, with Cooper Lynch and Mitch Simons making way.
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