Casey George has worked diligently through the grades and now has a vital role as the Eagles fight desperately for a finals finish.

"I love it, it's good fun, you know that the team has faith in you," he said.

George has been a surprise packet for the Eagles, sitting equal 12^th in the wicket-takers with 14 at 25.

"When we played North Albury we trusted him to bowl the last five overs from one end that day," paceman Brad Freake said.

"He did the job for us, he always does the job for us, he has a lot of different change-ups and changes of pace, he's a pretty clever bowler."

George is the type of player all clubs love.

He wasn't a schoolboy star, but has kept improving his game since starting at the club a decade ago.

"You have to fight for your spot, the older blokes have said that all year," he said.

And he's honest too.

When quizzed if he was fast-medium, he said: "Only medium, there's nothing fast about me".

The youngster works on the simple theory that if the batsman misses, he hits.

"Just bowl full, as full as you can and you've also got to get batsmen to play shots that you want them to play," he said.

"I also don't drop it short and use a change of pace."

The Eagles are involved in a fierce battle to claim a position near the bottom of the top six.

Belvoir and St Patrick's sit just behind sixth-placed Albury, while Wodonga Raiders are only three points behind the pair.

Whichever one of those four teams fills, in all probability, the only remaining spot will have to produce largely mistake-free cricket in the final eight rounds.

"There's a few areas we need to improve, batting in the last 10 overs, we need to look at getting more singles and our fielding efforts for 50 overs, we field well for a short period of time, but need to be more consistent," he said.

If results go as expected, the Eagles will find themselves in the top six late on Saturday.

Belvoir is away to New City, which has posted only one win.

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Albury will start outsiders away to East Albury.

The Crows have an eight-two win-loss record after missing finals last year.

St Patrick's host Tallangatta, while Raiders are home to Wodonga.

While many of those teams are battling for finals' survival, last year's grand finalists meet in a crackerjack clash.

North Albury claimed an upset win over Lavington in the grand final series, but the Panthers sit a win above the premiers in third.

Neither team has hit top form yet and both will be looking to kick-start the back half of the year with a five-star performance against a fellow powerhouse.