With a month left in the home and away season, the race to finals is certainly going to be an interesting one, with any of the top four to seven teams capable of making and playing well in finals.

Wickliffe/Lake Bolac took a scalp when it defeated the more fancied Woorndoo/Mortlake at Lake Bolac on Saturday.

The Magpies have certainly lifted their intensity over the season, welcoming some highly regarded players back into the side.

The Tigers began the match well, ahead by two goals at quarter time, but this lead was to be short lived as the Magpies played highly contested netball and took the lead at the other breaks, before eventually winning by five goals.

Samantha Keilar and Olivia Griffiths were unstoppable on the wings for Wickliffe/Lake Bolac, while Chris Morgan and Georgia Muir were Woorndoo/Mortlake's best.

Moyston/Willaura was another team that succumbed to an upset on the weekend when it travelled the long road to Macarthur to play Hawkesdale/Macarthur.

The Southern Eagles certainly had one mission in mind and that was to keep their finals' hopes alive by beating the Pumas.

The match was an intense affair, with the home side surprising Moyston/Willaura with an excellent first quarter.

From then on the Pumas were playing catch up and even after a few positional moves on the court at halftime, could not peg back the high flying Eagles.

Hawkesdale/Macarthur's Emily Hausler and Moyston/Willaura's Zoe Eastick had a fantastic duel on the court as opposing centres and were both named best for their efforts.

Penshurst turned the tables after its defeat at the hands of SM&W Rovers earlier in the season to beat the Bulldogs on this occasion.

The scores were even at halftime and it looked as though the game might go down to the wire, but a third quarter slump and a goal-fest from Penshurst cost the Rovers the match in the end.

Penshurst had excellent players in shooters, Alanna Cottrill and Carly Behncke and Rovers praised the efforts of its defender Liz Williams and goalie Madeline Meek.

In a game that did not have a surprise end score, Tatyoon defeated Caramut by eight goals.

The Hawks played a solid match and kept their noses in front the whole game, making the Swans work hard for every possession.

Tatyoon's defence was led by Ellie McDougall and Harmony Newman who played great games, while Shael Downs and Jenna Barr were Caramut's best players.

The Ararat Eagles had a great day out when they took on Great Western, beating them soundly to the tune of 24 goals.

Ararat led easily at quarter time and continued the momentum for the remainder of the match.

Lisa Haddow had another great game at wing defence, while her teammate Sarah West led the way in goals for the visitors.

Erin Freeland and Jo Aitken were Great Western's best players.

Lismore/Derrinallum has lost its second game in as many weeks to drop to second on the ladder after a disappointing loss to Glenthompson/Dunkeld.

The Demons, who were undefeated a fortnight ago, found themselves struggling after the Rams got the jump on them, and were unable to draw back the lead to lose by eight goals.

Results

A grade

Great Western 37 lost to Ararat 61 (L Haddow S West); Tatyoon 52 (E Mcdougall H Newman) def Caramut 44 (S Downs J Barr); SMW Rovers 34 (L Williams M Meek) lost to Penshurst 49 (A Cottrill C Behncke); Hawkesdale Macarthur 38 (E Hausler M Mcgrath) def Moyston Willaura 30 (Z Eastick K Jewell); Wickliffe Lake Bolac 37 (S Keilar O Griffiths) def Woorndoo-Mortlake 32 (C Morgan G Muir); Lismore Derrinallum 44 (M Russell) lost to Glenthompson-Dunkeld 52 (K Couchman S Balkin-Mitchell J Amott).

Ladder: Glenthompson-Dunkeld 40 (pts), 158.01 (%); Lismore Derrinallum 40, 144.17; Woorndoo-Mortlake 34, 128.96; Moyston Willaura 32, 138.03; Tatyoon 32, 111.59; Hawkesdale Macarthur 30, 100.44; Wickliffe Lake Bolac 28, 97.62; Penshurst 24, 101.75; Ararat 16, 88.87; Caramut 4, 71.64; SMW Rovers 4, 63.38; Great Western 4, 57.68.

B grade

Great Western 33 def Ararat 32 (K Kobelt C Rafferty); Tatyoon 45 (B Harris F Butler) def Caramut 40 (C Stonehouse C Meade); SMW Rovers 40 (S Perry L Hamilton) def Penshurst 15 (R Fuss M Mibus); Hawkesdale Macarthur 39 (L Addinsall K Habel) def Moyston Willaura 32 (G Cocking R Nicht); Wickliffe Lake Bolac 14 (J Pullinger J Grist) lost to Woorndoo-Mortlake 60 (M Muir K Mifsud); Lismore Derrinallum 32 lost to Glenthompson-Dunkeld 38 (J Mcmahon J Fishburn).

Ladder: Woorndoo-Mortlake 44 (pts), 186.75 (%); SMW Rovers 40, 136.23; Lismore Derrinallum 32, 134.02; Hawkesdale Macarthur 32, 130.39; Glenthompson-Dunkeld 32, 118.54; Great Western 28, 116.98; Tatyoon 24, 87.19; Moyston Willaura 20, 105.06; Ararat 20, 93.43; Penshurst 12, 84.10; Caramut 4, 53.74; Wickliffe Lake Bolac 0, 38.13.

C grade

Great Western 18 lost to Ararat 26 (J Leggett J Chick); Tatyoon 23 (L Maconachie R Maconachie) lost to Caramut 26 (J O'Sullivan K Hannabury); SMW Rovers 15 (C Mcleod A Mcleod) lost to Penshurst 27 (K Mibus M Rentsch); Hawkesdale Macarthur 29 (M O'Connell J Lewis) def Moyston Willaura 24 (C Baird K Pevitt); Wickliffe Lake Bolac 10 (K Keilar C Murray) lost to Woorndoo-Mortlake 47 (N Mclennan R Kleeven).

Ladder: Woorndoo-Mortlake 48 (pts), 214.97 (%); Lismore Derrinallum 40, 141.32; Tatyoon 32, 148.39; Ararat 32, 144.28; Caramut 32, 129.13; Glenthompson-Dunkeld 30, 111.30; Hawkesdale Macarthur 20, 88.77; Penshurst 16, 90.73; Moyston Willaura 14, 80.14; Great Western 12, 54.55; Wickliffe Lake Bolac 10, 51.88; SMW Rovers 2, 48.82.

17 and under

Tatyoon 70 (M Astbury E Reynolds) def Caramut 10 (L Cummins); SMW Rovers 14 (A Dunn T Chilton) lost to Penshurst 29 (R Mibus L Rentsch); Hawkesdale Macarthur 48 (L Drendel C Pye) def Moyston Willaura 17 (L Molloy K Pearce); Wickliffe Lake Bolac 53 (A Jackson A Millear) def Woorndoo-Mortlake 26 (B Eldridge R Eldridge).

Ladder: Tatyoon 48 (pts), 282.39 (%); Glenthompson-Dunkeld 38, 175.21; Wickliffe Lake Bolac 38, 173.49; Penshurst 36, 205.03; Hawkesdale Macarthur 32, 155.28; Woorndoo-Mortlake 28, 108.77; SMW Rovers 24, 96.74; Great Western 20, 48.66; Moyston Willaura 12, 61.56; Lismore Derrinallum 8, 38.68; Caramut 4, 18.60.

15 and under

Great Western 30 def Ararat 6 (E Mcloughlin E Richards); Hawkesdale Macarthur 26 (A Gow N Milgate) lost to Moyston Willaura 32 (M Dowling L Argall); Wickliffe Lake Bolac 3 (H Hutchins M McIlvena) lost to Woorndoo-Mortlake 47 (S Jubb B Humphrey).

Ladder: Woorndoo-Mortlake 46 (pts), 272.73 (%); Tatyoon 44, 197.94; Moyston Willaura 40, 179.07; Penshurst 38, 101.67; Hawkesdale Macarthur 28, 113.10; Great Western 24, 90.53; Glenthompson-Dunkeld 20, 61.11; Ararat 16, 50.75; Wickliffe Lake Bolac 12, 29.96; Lismore Derrinallum 8, 50.00.

13 and under

Great Western 12 (I Shalders A Hosken) def Ararat 5 (C Tate); Tatyoon 40 (G Bush E Jones) def Caramut 0 (T Williams A Mann); SMW Rovers 22 (B McKay-Haines A Beaty) def Penshurst 6 (L Bester S Rentsch); Hawkesdale Macarthur 29 (C Adams T Fitzgerald) def Moyston Willaura 4 (K Skubnik S Burmeister); Wickliffe Lake Bolac 23 (L Millear H Hutchins) def Woorndoo-Mortlake 13 (A Roxburgh C Mahncke).

Ladder: Hawkesdale Macarthur 48 (pts), 348.15 (%); Wickliffe Lake Bolac 38, 156.64; Tatyoon 32, 210.22; SMW Rovers 32, 165.52; Lismore Derrinallum 32, 135.29; Glenthompson-Dunkeld 26, 90.60; Penshurst 24, 99.42; Ararat 20, 67.88; Great Western 18, 96.20; Woorndoo-Mortlake 10, 65.88; Moyston Willaura 8, 39.42; Caramut 0, 9.42.