The Grasshoppers get an opportunity to show where they are against Dunnstown in the Central Highlands Football League at Rokewood on Saturday.

Dunnstown is up with the best, so there can be no better gauge.

Rokewood-Corindhap finished third in a break-out season last year and was ready to play in its first CHFL finals series before COVID-19 brought a premature end to proceedings.

The Hoppers are desperately keen to go on and emulate that campaign in a full roster of home and away matches.

It is impossible to determine to this point exactly what level Rokewood-Corindhap is at, with all its four wins being against sides out of top eight calculations and its injury list growing by the week.

CHFL SENIOR LINE-UPS

CHFL livestream round 6: Rokewood-Corindhap v Dunnstown

Rokewood-Corindhap follows Skipton in the season fixture and the Emus were also able to make the most of a relatively easy start to the season before running into Dunnstown.

Rock hard from playing the likes of Gordon and Hepburn, the Towners put up a stop sign for Skipton.

Since losing first-up to Bungaree, the Grasshoppers have been a long way short of being challenged for four quarters as they will undoubtedly be on Saturday.

For Rokewood-Corindhap, it is going to be all about breaking down Dunnstown's defensive pressure - something the Towners pride themselves on and dish out week-in week-out.

Towners will produce nothing less again and only Rokewood-Corindhap at its best will be able to overcome it.

Unfortunately for the already depleted Grasshoppers, they have lost another three frontline players from their line-up to face Dunnstown.

They will be without star key forward Cam Richardson (ill), ruckman Hamish Everett (knee) and the mobile Ben Harris, who will miss a large part of the season with a broken collarbone.

Back in though is key defender Joel Bragagnolo, ruckman/forward Ed Denouden, Jake Dowell and Jordan Grant.

Rokewood-Corindhap joint coach Brad Macgowan said as frustrating as the run of injuries was the Grasshoppers were not dwelling on it.

He said everyone had to deal with them. "It's going to be a great test. We're going to see where we're at."

Dunnstown also remains below full strength, with the likes of full back Pat Britt, spearhead Tom Wardell and Jack Leonard (fractured scapula) missing, but that has not stopped it.

Towners coach Glenn Wilkins said he had no doubt Rokewood-Corindhap would be well coached and well drilled, and provide yet another big challenge.

He said Dunnstown would be concentrating on continuing to do what had given it a record of four wins and one loss.

The Grasshoppers' spread, pace and ability to get past Baiden Cracknell and Will Henderson in defence, and combating mobile ruckman Khyle Forde will go a long way to determining the game.

PREDICTION: Towners

Mathew Stokes returns for his second game for Gordon in the Central Highlands Football League on Saturday.

The unbeaten Eagles face Buninyong at Gordon in what is a potential danger game if the Bombers can continue the upward trend they were showing before a bye.

The Geelong premiership player made his debut for Gordon two rounds ago against Waubra.

Stokes not surprisingly had quite an influence on the game, not just as a player, but in a leadership role.

He played forward as well as having midfield time.

Stokes' inclusion and the return of important midfielder Ethan Crackel is timely, given Buninyong offers a potential threat.

At the other end of the scale Tye Murphy (foot) is out, which is a big loss.

Gordon's winning culture has been a linchpin in what it has done so far this year.

The Eagles have not been winning by big margins, but find a way to win.

Although this is a bigger challenge than the wins over Waubra and Newlyn, the signs were there for Buninyong that its slow burn was beginning to pick up momentum.

And in a big plus, Caius Barrenger is back from suspension to add size for the Bombers.

PREDICTION: Eagles

The Demons were as relieved as much as anything to get back into winning form against Carngham-Linton.

If offered two wins from their opening four games at the start of the season, the Demons probably would have taken it.

As disappointing as losing to Beaufort was, it was not the two defeats that hurt the Demons, it was the way they lost.

The capitulation at the hands of Springbank was beyond their worst nightmares.

Bungaree's focus now is to make sure it does not slip up in games like this and then brace for meetings with more of the big boys.

"We need to ensure we're on (every week)," coach Ryan Waight said.

While clear of any new injuries of note, Lachlan Pendergast is unavailable owing to work commitments after one game back.

Coach Dean Romeril knows there is no quick fix when it comes to turning around the Wickers' fortunes.

He can see improvement though and it is all about waiting for the right match-up to come along to provide a winning chance.

Will that be against Bungaree?

Probably not, but what he will want to see is continued improvement against a side on par with their previous opponent in Beaufort.

Creswick put in three solid quarters against Crows, but was eventually overwhelmed.

Bungaree might be coming off a commanding win over Carngham-Linton, but it has not been at the level it had hoped so the Wickers will see a chance to push the Demons all the way.

Romeril said Creswick needed to recapture the form it showed in a close loss to Clunes in round one.

Callagun Mann's injured thumb has been found to be fractured, meaning he will miss four to six weeks.

In other unwelcome news, Pat Taranto has again been sidelined with hamstring trouble.

PREDICTION: Demons

The Crows should chalk up their fourth win in a row.

They are not proving to be particularly dangerous offensively, but their defensive work is proving to be a decisive factor.

To already have the chance to double the number of wins they had last year is a dream start.

Beaufort is building around the experience of Daniel Jones, Jimmy Vanderkley, Josh McDermott and Michael Todd, and they are seeing the benefits.

Joint coach Brendan Howard, who is close to returning from a calf injury, said Beaufort was well aware that despite getting some wins on the board it could take no one lightly.

"We're a long way from being in that position."

Beaufort has lost young defender Tom McKenzie (broken foot/ankle), but has welcomed back Tim Haase, Ben Connelly and Ash Davies.

Going into the season Ballan would have looked at this game as a possible win.

The Blues will still have that belief, but the assignment is a whole lot tougher with the Crows getting on a roll.

So there's no releief for Ballan.

Already having to do it tough by spending all season on the road owing to their home ground not being available, the Blues have played against some of the best in the competition.

They have stuck at it, but conceding more than 100 points in each of their five games underlines how tough its been.

Ballan will line up a lot healthier this week with forward Lachlan Conlan and Jeda Stone back, but having ruckman Trent Laurie unavailable is not ideal.

PREDICTION: Crows

For the first time since the Tigers' demolition of Bungaree in round two, they will have Zak Bozanich and Steve Staunton line up together in the key forward posts.

Each has played just three of the five rounds, with that win over the Demons being the only time they have lined up side-by-side.

That spells trouble for Daylesford, with the strong marking duo opening pathways to goals for an already dominant midfield.

This looms as Springbank's tough assignment so far.

The Tigers have basically had everything their own way, but they can expect to find the bid bodied Bulldogs a little tougher.

However, they should still get the points with relative ease.

You will not find coach Hamish Jarrad anything but upbeat.

While on face value the Bulldogs do not look to have had the best of starts to the season, look who they have lost to - Gordon, Hepburn, Skipton and Rokewood-Corindhap.

No shame in losing to that quartet.

You can only learn by playing against the best and this is exactly what Daylesford is doing.

Jarrad believes that at their best the Bulldogs are not too far off the pace.

Well, they will need to play their best against Springbank.

Let's see how close they can get to a side averaging a massive 136 points a game.

Daylesford will be without Sean Naylor, Luke Hallett and Adam Pasahidis, all unavailable.

Xavier Walsh is among inclusions.

PREDICTION: Tigers

Skipton will go into this game with extra resolve after dropping its first game of the season to Dunnstown.

Joint coach Sam Willian said the Emus did not do much wrong, but defeat had alerted them to a few aspects of their game which needed working on.

He said there was every chance a loss was going to come at some stage in a season and it was better to be now.

"One bad quarter cost us. We've had a good look at the game and been working on a few things.

"We'll go out there and play our (brand of) footy," he said.

Jack Romeril is back for a settled Emus line-up.

This is the game which could really ignite the Lakies' season.

There are two ways to look at getting Skipton off the back of its first loss.

The Emus will either be second guessing themselves a little or they'll be fired up to make amends.

Learmonth coach Nick Willox said it was clear Skipton had not given much away on the scoreboard despite losing to Dunnstown and he expected the Emus to be even tougher at their home ground.

He said Learmonth's focus needed to be on once getting a strong start to keep building on it and not just sitting on it as it was tending to do.

"We can't afford to fall away."

Lakies have added Max Jackson (broken rib) to what is already a substantial injury list and does not look like improving before the mid-season break.

PREDICTION: Emus

Two years ago in a premiership season, Waubra thumped Clunes.

The Magpies will never get a better chance to turn the tables than right now.

Playing to stay in the finals race, Clunes catches the Roos without a win.

A strong start will be the key.

The Magpies missed the jump against Learmonth and that ultimately cost them a chance of getting into a winning position later in the game despite the brave deeds of Damian Fazio, Nick Clarke, Nick Wrigley, Josh Thompson, Dom Makur and John Fazio, who was knocked from pillar to post.

They'll need to be right on their game, but the opportunity is there.

Coach Luke Davidson said he was not taking too much notice of Waubra's win-loss ratio.

"We respect what they've done and this is a great challenge for us."

Clunes will be bolstered by captain Lachlan Wrigley and Brandyn Davidson.

The Roos continue to appear calm, but inwardly the disappointment must be growing.

They'll be feeling uncomfortable.

Losses to Hepburn and Gordon are not the end of the world, but when they come on the back of defeats in truly winnable games that is another matter.

Easier fixtures will come, but the draw does not open up for the Roos for a while yet so they need a win right now.

Coach Matt James said if Waubra was able to produce its best the opportunity to open its account would be there.

The Roos will line up up much stronger with Will Corbett having recovered from concussion suffered against Gordon two weeks ago, and ruckman Ethan Kennedy, captain Darcy Jenkins and Lachlan McLeod all back.

PREDICTION: Roos

One gets the feeling Hepburn is in cruise mode.

The loss to Dunnstown provided a momentary halt to their charge, but the Burras now have that experience stored away in the memory bank.

One of Hepburn's biggest strengths is being able to shrug off rivals with a quick surge.

It has players who can step up a gear with the blink of an eye - Andy McKay, Sean Tighe, Mitch Banner, Jackson Hogan, Jack Pedretti and Jimmy Wallesz.

This is a likely outcome in this contest despite losing Mitch McKay and Joe Clarke to hamstring injuries.

Ricky Ferraro makes a welcome return.

Gordon one week, Hepburn the next.

But what better way to prepare for the Burras.

Newlyn showed plenty early againsy Gordon, but it never helps when you are without the quality of a forward like Marcus Darmody - someone who is necessary if there is any hope of exchanging fire with fire.

Fortunately Darmody has been named to line up this time.

The Cats will challenge for a while, but maintaining the pressure is going to be an issue even with the damage Liam Gunn, Sean Willmott, Dan Wehrung, Tom Carey and Jarrod Fryar are capable of.

PREDICTION: Burra