MYRTLEFORD and Wangaratta are on the brink of a return to Ovens and Murray finals action.
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The Saints and Magpies will face off at McNamara Reserve on Saturday with the winner all-but certain of securing a top-five finish.
The Saints are chasing their first finals appearance since 2006 while Wangaratta hasn’t finished in the top half of the ladder since 2011.
Remarkably, Myrtleford could still finish as high as third if it wins its final three matches – against the Magpies, Raiders and Corowa-Rutherglen – and Yarrawonga fails to beat Lavington and Albury in the run home.
“All we can do is keep winning,” Saints co-coach Brad Murray said.
“We’ll just worry about our own backyard.
“All our games in the run home are winnable so we just have to stick to what we’ve been doing.
“We can’t afford to have any lapses against sides that are fighting for the same spots as us, next week is going to be a big one against the Maggies.”
Murray’s Wangaratta counterpart Brendan Cairns agreed, saying the Magpies had three “elimination finals” in the next month against the Saints, Roos and Wodonga.
“It’s a good position to be in when you can control your future a little bit,” he said.
“We’ve got no one to blame but ourselves, moving forward.
“From now on, now that we’ve managed to scrape in, it’s an elimination final every week.”
Wodonga gave itself a sniff of September with a stirring victory over Lavington but would need to win its next three matches and it faces the daunting prospect of hosting Albury on Saturday.
- Round 15 O&M reports: P40-41