The equation is simple – win this weekend, and Wangaratta can lock in the minor premiership, the double chance, and give themselves the best possible avenue to a flag.

The Magpies currently sit at the head of the pack going into the final round of the home and away season this weekend, and if they’re able to defend the Showgrounds from a pack of ferocious Wodonga Bulldogs, they’d be a shoo-in to go deep in the postseason.

While the excitement of finals is building among the black and white faithful, coach Jason Heatley urged a composed, week-by-week approach, as they had done all year.

“In realistic terms, it’s another week - we have our plans and schedules, they really don’t change,” he said.

“I suppose the area of expectation on this week is obviously if we win, we can shore up top spot, so there are lots of things in play at the moment, but we’re just really focussing on ourselves.

“The motivation is to win, and if we get our process and our planning right, and we execute well, that’s more important to us.

“The permutation of the ladder will look after itself – for the moment, we haven’t looked further ahead than Wodonga.”

The Magpies will welcome back a handful of gun players this weekend who were absent in their recent five-point thrilling win over North Albury last week.

“It was a different sort of a game, North Albury have their style and they played it pretty well, to be fair,” Heatley said of the win.

“They were probably quite stiff not to win the game.

“We’ll probably get three, four, maybe five back available to play this week.

“[Xavier] Laverty will play, [Aidan] Tilley will play, [Cameron] Barrett will play, [Jack] Mapleson will play – there’s four, and there could be others too.

“We’ll pick our best available side to be able to get the job done.”

The Magpies host Wodonga Bulldogs this Saturday at the Wangaratta Showgrounds, with thirds football from 10am, reserves from 12pm, before the senior hit-out at 2pm.

Meanwhile, it’s set to be a challenging weekend for the two-time premiers, needing a lot to go their way if they want to reclaim top spot.

Wangaratta Rovers will need the Bulldogs to get up over their rivals, as well as needing to secure a win over Myrtleford on the road in a two-vs-three showdown at Myrtleford.

The Rovers have just one win from their last four matches at McNamara Reserve, and considering the Saints did the job over the Hawks back in round 10 of this year, the Rovers have every reason to be concerned.

If they want to take the points, the Rovers will need to lock down the Saints' dynamic midfield, boasting arguably the best ruck in the competition in Riley Smith and Morris Medallist Jaxon East, while keeping their half-forward line flexible to deny veteran defender Simon Curtis any influence on the match.