McMahon is unavailable to play the second week of the two-day clash due to the wedding of teammate Nathan Nortcott and has therefore been left out of the selected side.

He is the big omission from a Brown Hill outfit that lost last weekend’s encounter with Darley.

This left the Bulls - grand finalists during the past three seasons - in dangerous territory in seventh spot on the Ballarat Cricket Association firsts ladder.

The team is 12 points adrift of the fourth-placed Naps-Sebas, which it meets on Saturday.

Brown Hill skipper Ryan Knowles admits it’s getting tough for the Bulls to make finals, but believes his side can give itself a chance by winning all of the remaining matches.

After Naps-Sebas, Brown Hill battles Mt Clear, East Ballarat and North Ballarat in the run home.

Napoleons-Sebastopol captain Matt Ringin has also flagged some significant changes to his team, which had the bye last weekend.

With batsmen Tyler Dittloff and Jonah Healey both unavailable, Ben Trew and Dan Scott get the nod as their replacements in the top order.

Trew is set to play his first A-grade game of the campaign following a knock of 13 in the seconds last Saturday. Scott returns to the line-up after a score of four while opening the batting with Trew last weekend.

The two-day encounter against Brown Hill will be played on neutral turf at Alfredton due to the Ballarat Beer Festival occupying City Oval this Saturday.

After this clash, Naps-Sebas runs towards finals with games against Ballarat-Redan, Mt Clear and Wendouree.