The loss wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but the margin was.

The Panthers went into the penultimate round chasing a top three spot. They are now battling for survival.

“It hurt to get beat in the contest like we did, we pride ourselves on that, that was a very disappointing loss,” coach James Saker said.

Wodonga’s 34-point win over North on Sunday means the Bulldogs have now joined Lavington on 10 wins with one round left.

Lavington has a percentage lead of three and a half.

Both teams will start outsiders on Saturday.

A rejuventated Yarrawonga is home to Wodonga, while Lavington is away to third-placed Wodonga Raiders.

It could well come down to who loses by the least amount.

“I think we had as many inside 50s, if not more, we weren’t as clean as we had to be and not having ‘Dicko’ there to take some marks hurt us,” Saker said.

The Panthers were forced to find yet another makeshift key forward after stand-in Brant Dickson was forced out late with a hamstring injury he suffered the previous week against Albury.

Dickson has represented the league in defence, but was sensational when moved forward after Adam Prior was suspended.

Prior returns for the final round.