Five won’t go into four - so what comes next in Matheson Shield?

Fourth is entirely up for grabs, with Shepparton Park (8-5) entering the weekend occupying the spot and in control of its destiny.

Park’s path to the final four is anything but secure, though, with a crunch clash awaiting Saturday against third-placed Shepparton Golf (10-3).

Three of this weekend’s four clashes have the utmost stakes attached, so picking one to highlight is naturally dubious.

Instead The News sought comment across all three finals-shaping clashes to present how clubs will prepare in different situations.

The clash between two sides currently in the four kicks us off as Park welcomes Golf across town.

Park needs a big win over Golf to ensure fourth regardless of results elsewhere and will be sweating on news from Tatura Bowls Club with anything less.

Meanwhile, Golf has dropped its past two games to the sides above it, but retains every hope of nailing a double chance if it can win.

Golf’s Brad Orr has highlighted the need for “connection and consistency” on the rinks as it seeks to steer back on course.

“It’s a big game for us, so hopefully we take all our rinks and can still nab top two and a double chance,” Orr said.

“We’ll look at the results at the end of the day and they’ll be what they’ll be; hopefully Tatura-Hill Top takes a couple of rinks off Kyabram and we can jump over them.

“We’ve made a few changes and we’ll back our ability and see how we go.”

Tatura-Hill Top (7-6) will be one side with an extremely keen eye on proceedings at Shepparton Park Bowls Club as it prepares to host Kyabram (10-3).

Kyabram has plenty on the table and could sneak the minor premiership or even host an elimination final depending how the tables turn around the grounds.

While the Bombers are imposing enough on their own, despite forfeiting their six-game winning streak at the hands of Tallygaroopna last week, Scott Adams knows there’s more at stake beyond his squad’s control.

“We need to win or, obviously, it’s over,” Adams said.

“We were hoping Mooroopna might have done a job on Park (last weekend); it was disappointing to get knocked out of the four, but we’re all looking forward to the challenge.”

Typically, coaches offer lines about focusing on their own team’s performance to the exclusion of all others, adopting a tunnel vision approach even at the pointy end.

No such diplomacy exists here, though.

“We do have to concentrate on our game first up and we’ll be back if we win and Golf can do the job, but we’d have to get at least three rinks,” Adams said.

“Hopefully Park gets done 18-zip, but it’s in the hands of the gods now.

“I’ll definitely have a couple of spies going at that game to keep me updated.”

Tallygaroopna (11-2) has by far the most straightforward scenario heading into the final round, with only a near-collapse set to result in anything other than top spot.

Tallygaroopna travels to face East Shepparton (1-12), which may have given the ladder leader something to consider in notching its first win of season 2023-24 last weekend.

The rampaging David Daws-led outfit has shown no sign of slowing down, though, overcoming Kyabram in a thriller last Saturday and running its win streak to a league-best nine games.

As far as Daws is concerned, finals starts now.

“East Shepparton is a danger and we’ve got to treat it appropriately because they could ruin the whole trip for us,” Daws said.

“This is essentially our finals campaign starting this weekend.

“(Kyabram and Golf) are both quality sides. It’s going to be a good finals series regardless of where we all finish and there’s no preference on who we want to play.

“We just want to make up for the pointy end of last year.”

Euroa (3-10) and Mooroopna (2-11) will meet with lesser stakes on the line to close out the home and away season.

Mooroopna only needs a handful of points to remove all doubt and avoid the wooden spoon, but this is unlikely to provide much consolation after a down year.