The pair sit third and fourth, respectively, after eight rounds, with the winner of Saturday's clash at Mount Beauty to take the upper hand at the midway mark of the competition.

Runs have been a little hard to come by at times for Dederang, but it hasn't stopped them piling on five straight wins after a tough start to the campaign.

"There's no secret that the Dederang and Mount Beauty rivalry is there and alive," Dederang's Andrew Mann said.

"We've had some really close tussles and we had a fantastic win up there last year.

"We haven't had our best team on the park together yet, so there's some good early signs and we've had a couple of young blokes come in and do really well."

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Pacemen Jack Veenbaas, Jesse Marcuzzi, Andrew Dishot have been outstanding for the Demons thus far, while skipper Andrew Creamer and Ryan Barker have been excellent spin options.

Mann revealed they also have a secret weapon.

"Our little mate Chris Beard who we do our charity stuff with (for cystic fibrosis) is always with us and is there to offer us advice," Mann said.

"I know Chris will certainly let us know if we're dropping the ball and everyone aspires to make Chris proud on a weekly basis."

In the weekend's remaining games, Eskdale hosts an out of sorts Baranduda, Howlong welcomes Corowa, ladder leaders Yackandandah face Kiewa, while Bethanga will look to claim its second victory of the season against the winless Barnawartha-Chiltern.