With the Ballarat Cricket Association scheduled to play on the January 26 public holiday, clubs face the unfamiliar task of three matches in eight days.

For the Pointies, all are against opponents above them on the ladder.

This weekend, the run starts with a meeting against ladder leader Wendouree before they host reigning premier Darley next Wednesday.

An away game against fifth-placed Ballarat-Redan completes the stretch for last season's grand finalists.

"(These games) are massive for us. We've definitely got to get a win out these games to give ourselves the best opportunity," McDonald told The Courier.

"I guess if we don't, it proves to us that our cricket isn't up to it this year to be playing finals.

"We need to be competitive first of all and string together some consistent cricket to try and challenge these better teams."

An 18-run loss to East Ballarat at the weekend sunk the sixth-placed Golden Point further into mid-table obscurity.

It is 12 points off Naps-Sebas in fourth, though dangerously shares 24 points with Buninyong in seventh and is only one win clear of eighth-placed North Ballarat.

Despite being one of the competition's highest-scoring sides, the Pointies have just four wins to their name.

"We've just been really inconsistent," McDonald said of the season to date.

"We have put patches together of what feels like our best cricket but have shown our worst cricket in the same games as well.

"When we feel the momentum shift in our favour, and we're playing well, we need to keep it going for longer. It's just not happening."

Offering some solace to the 10-time premiers is the fact they're no strangers to precarious positions.

In 2020-21, the Pointies returned from the holiday break sitting third-to-last on the ladder. Six wins from the final nine games saw them rise to fifth and qualify for finals under the old six-team format.

"It's funny there is that little bit (of thinking) in the group where you can kind of go 'we'll we've done this before," McDonald said.

"We seem to muck around until we get three or four games out of finals and pull ourselves out of a slump.

"There's also another layer to it where some in the group go 'well this happened before' and become complacent.

"I don't know if that's happening or not, but we've had a pretty good run of success and are grateful for having experienced that success. If it comes to an end this year and we miss finals, then I guess that's what it is. That being said, everyone is working really hard and wants to be the best they can be."

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