Another year, another intriguing run home in Strathmore Community Bank Division One.
With seven rounds remaining, seven clubs remain in the hunt to extend their campaigns beyond the home-and-away season.
Oak Park is sitting pretty on top of the ladder with a 9-2 record, two games games clear of Avondale Heights, West Coburg, and Taylors Lakes.
Hillside and St Albans both have six wins, while seventh-placed Moonee Valley is 5-6, but just one game outside the top five.
Just two games separate second and seventh, enhancing the competition's reputation as "the best division in local footy" - a phrase which has been uttered yearly over the past decade.
Even Craigieburn, which sits eighth with a 4-7 record, is only two games outside the finals places, but the odds are stacked against it.
The bottom two clubs - Tullamarine and Roxburgh Park - are also anything but easybeats, creating a weekly feast of thrilling fixtures.
Just three of the 55 matches played this season have been decided by more than 80 points, with one result in triple figures.
First-year Hillside coach Mo Kaakour, who previously led Westmeadows in the second tier, said it was enjoyable to be part of such a hotly contested division.
"It's been a pretty good comp; Division One always is and this year is no exception. I think from last year each club has improved," Kaakour said.
"Every side is in the game each week, whoever you come up against. We feel as though we're in the game every week that we play, that's for sure.
"I've been in Division One a little while now and I've obviously experienced what I did at Westmeadows. I think the comp back then was pretty strong. It just keeps getting better and better each year.
"It's good to be part of it. I think the clubs at Division One level are doing a really good job with their junior programs, and those kids are coming through.
"I think we've got a lot of good kids coming through at Hillside - a lot of kids that have played in some finals at Under 18 and 16 level. We're seeing them come up and play a part at senior level."
The Sharks lost their opening three games as they were hit hard by injury.
But they underlined their flag credentials with a stirring 52-point win over West Coburg last Saturday.
Kaakour rates the Burgers, who have lost the past three grand finals, as the pacesetter.
"We're going OK. We had a good win on the weekend against West Coburg. They're a quality side, and I still see them as the best side in it at the moment. They're a very good side, well coached. We had a good win against them," he said.
"I just feel as though if we can play some consistent footy and bring our A-game each week, I think we'll be there come season's end."
Last year's Division Two premier Taylors Lakes has exceeded expectations to sit fourth and is riding the momentum of a four-game winning run.
The Lions recruited impressively over the off-season, landing experienced trio Marc Lock, Daniel Younan, and Jake Hobbs, and have proven to be a formidable side under premiership coach Steve Burns.
"It's going to be difficult obviously (to contest finals). We've got Hillside and St Albans chasing very hard and they're both quality sides, but we're really proud of where we're at considering we've come up," Burns told the EDFL Tonight Podcast this week.
"We did recruit well, but you've still got to get the job done, and we've got a lot of young players still in our side who hadn't played Division One footy at all, and a lot of those guys are accounting for themselves really well and we're super pleased with that side of it.
"If you had have said we were going to be equal second on percentage at this stage of the year, obviously you take it, very much so in this quality of division, with some great sides above us that have all beaten us."
Oak Park contested finals last year after claiming the 2023 Division Two flag, and has risen again this year after bolstering its list over summer, while Avondale Heights has silenced its doubters after it was relegated from Premier Division last season.
The only guarantee in Division One is that you can strap yourselves in for a grandstand finish.
