THERE are four weeks left of the regular season in what has been a fascinating 2015 men's SBL season and all positions inside the top eight remain up for grabs, while five teams on the outside still remain a mathematical, albeit slight, chance of making it in most cases.

The Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves now sit two games clear on top of the standings with a two-win break back to the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers, but those two meet this weekend in a match that could tighten things up again if the Buccs win.

The Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars and Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers are then battling over third and fourth position, with the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames, Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Mandurah Magic and Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants rounding out the top eight.

The Lakeside Lightning and Perry Lakes Hawks aren’t too far out of a top eight position, while the Stirling Senators, Perth Redbacks and Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles are mathematically still a chance of making the playoffs, but it does appear a long shot for any of them to make the post-season.

The Wolves do appear to have the minor premiership sewn up after missing the playoffs altogether in 2014, but there is still some work to do to secure that first position.

Not only do they face the Buccs this weekend, but also the third placed Cougars and the playoff contending Lightning and the defending champion Eagles who are now finding form. None of those will be easy, but if the Wolfpack beat the Buccs top spot should be theirs.

The Buccaneers have only lost four games this season coming off last year's grand final appearance, but two of those have come in their last four games meaning they don’t enter the clash with the Wolves in the form they would have liked.

However, Geraldton is still well placed to finish in at least second position despite four tricky games to finish the season at home to the Cougars and Senators, and away to the Lightning and Tigers.

The Cougars have been the great surprise packets of the season after missing the playoffs the last two years since winning the 2012 championship.

A new coach and some more help for Gavin Field has helped Cockburn improve to a 15-7 record now with a month to go to see them in prime position to finish in third spot, and they can still make a push to finish second.

The Cougars finish their season with four road matches against the top two teams the Wolves and Buccaneers, and two teams trying to stay alive in the Redbacks and Hawks.

The Slammers have now lost six of their last eight matches to have slipped from first position to fourth and to sit on a 14-7 record but they remain three games clear in fourth with matches to finish away to the Lightning and Suns, and home to the Eagles, Tigers and Redbacks.

The Flames were also looking good for a top four position for much of the first half of the season, but they have now fallen out of touch of that possibility, and have yet to secure a position in the playoffs altogether.

Rockingham holds just an 11-9 record with games to finish at home to the Eagles and Giants, and away to the Senators, Eastern Suns, Magic and Tigers.

All those matches are crucial with Willetton, Mandurah and Goldfields all around the same mark as them, so they all will be mini-finals while if they expect to make the playoffs they need to beat the teams below in Stirling, East Perth and Kalamunda.

The Tigers had high hopes of being real contenders with the arrival of some well-credentialed players and coach Alan Black this season, and they did start well, but things haven’t been as encouraging lately with them losing eight of their last 11 matches.

Willetton needs to string some wins together to close out the season now to guarantee a playoff position and the Tigers host the Magic, Buccs and Flames, and play on the road to the Senators and Slammers.

The Magic will be confident of beating the Redbacks and Eastern Suns, at least, at home as part of their final five matches as they look to guarantee a playoff position.

Their other three matches are against teams around the same mark as then as they take on the Tigers and Hawks away, and the Flames at home.

The Giants haven’t made the playoffs since 2012 but they are now one of the form teams of the SBL right now having won their last five matches to improve to a 10-11 record to be in eighth position.

That gives them plenty of momentum to go into their matches to finish the season at home to the Hawks, Eagles and Lightning, and away to the Flames and Redbacks.

The trio of Jay Bowie, Jacob Holmen and Mathiang Muo are delivering as good of a three-prong attack that there is in the competition right now.

The Lightning have now slipped out of the top eight thanks to a 53-point loss to Perry Lakes and 30-point defeat at the hands of Rockingham the past two weeks.

That means the Lightning must find a way to bounce back over their last five games where they travel to play the Eagles and Giants, and host the Slammers, Buccaneers and Wolves.

Four of those teams are in the top eight and the one not is the defending champion East Perth so potentially none of the five matches will see the Lightning enter as favourites.

Since the return of import guard Bryton Hobbs, the Hawks have regained some form to win four of their last five matches to improve to an 8-13 record to remain in the playoff race.

However, they will need to win most, if not all, of their remaining matches at home to the Senators, Magic and Cougars, and away to the Giants and Eagles.

Cody Ellis continues to make sure the Senators are a competitive outfit but at 7-13 it's a big ask for them to break into the playoffs. They would likely need to win all their last six matches at home to Rockingham, Willetton and Perth, and on the road to Kalamunda, Perry Lakes and Geraldton.

The Redbacks were genuine title contenders in 2014 only narrowly missing a grand final berth, and there was every reason to expect them to be around the mark again with import Ray Turner certainly doing all he can as an MVP candidate.

However, Perth just hasn’t been able to string wins together and as a result sit on a 7-14 record with games remaining at home to the Cougars and Giants, and away to the Magic, Senators and Slammers. They will need to win all five to be any chance of playing in the post-season.

Even if the Eagles win their last six matches at home to the Lightning, Hawks and Wolves, and away to the Flames, Slammers and Giants, it might not be enough for the defending champions to make the playoffs but they are now in their best form of the season and won't be easy to beat for any of those teams.

BREAKDOWN OF THE RUN HOME FOR THE TEAMS IN CONTENTION

MERRIWA TAVERN & BISTRO JOONDALUP CITY WOLVES
Current position: 1st
Current record: 19-3

Run home: Buccaneers (A), Cougars (H), Lightning (A), Eagles (A)
Home games left: 1
Away games left: 3
Games left v top eight teams: 2
Games left v bottom six teams: 2

S & K ELECTRICAL GERALDTON BUCCANEERS
Current position: 2nd
Current record: 17-4

Run home: Wolves (H), Lightning (A), Tigers (A), Cougars (H), Senators (H)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 2
Games left v top eight teams: 3
Games left v bottom six teams: 2

SOPRANO DESIGNS COCKBURN COUGARS
Current position: 3rd
Current record: 15-7

Run home: Redbacks (A), Wolves (A), Buccaneers (A), Hawks (A)
Home games left: 0
Away games left: 4
Games left v top eight teams: 2
Games left v bottom six teams: 2

COLLIE CRANE HIRE SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS
Current position: 4th
Current record: 14-7

Run home: Lightning (A), Eagles (H), Tigers (H), Eastern Suns (A), Redbacks (H)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 2
Games left v top eight teams: 1
Games left v bottom six teams: 4

NAGS HEAD TAVERN & BISTRO ROCKINGHAM FLAMES
Current position: 5th
Current record: 11-9

Run home: Senators (A), Eagles (H), Eastern Suns (A), Giants (H), Magic (A), Tigers (A)
Home games left: 2
Away games left: 4
Games left v top eight teams: 3
Games left v bottom six teams: 3

GOODLIFE HOMES WILLETTON TIGERS
Current position: 6th
Current record: 11-10

Run home: Magic (H), Senators (A), Buccaneers (H), Slammers (A), Flames (H)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 2
Games left v top eight teams: 4
Games left v bottom six teams: 1

MANDURAH MAGIC
Current position: 7th
Current record: 11-10

Run home: Tigers (A), Redbacks (H), Flames (H), Hawks (A), Eastern Suns (H)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 2
Games left v top eight teams: 2
Games left v bottom six teams: 3

SILVER LAKE RESOURCES GOLDFIELDS GIANTS
Current position: 8th
Current record: 10-11

Run home: Hawks (H), Flames (A), Redbacks (A), Eagles (H*), Lightning (H)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 2
Games left v top eight teams: 1
Games left v bottom six teams: 4

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING
Current position: 9th
Current record: 9-12

Run home: Eagles (A), Slammers (H), Buccaneers (H), Wolves (H), Giants (A)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 2
Games left v top eight teams: 4
Games left v bottom six teams: 1

PERRY LAKES HAWKS
Current position: 10th
Current record: 8-13

Run home: Giants (A), Senators (H), Eagles (A), Magic (H), Cougars (H)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 2
Games left v top eight teams: 3
Games left v bottom six teams: 2

STIRLING SENATORS
Current position: 11th
Current record: 7-13

Run home: Flames (H), Eastern Suns (A), Hawks (A), Tigers (H), Redbacks (H), Buccaneers (A)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 3
Games left v top eight teams: 3
Games left v bottom six teams: 3

PERTH REDBACKS
Current position: 12th
Current record: 7-14

Run home: Cougars (H), Magic (A), Giants (H), Senators (A), Slammers (A)
Home games left: 2
Away games left: 3
Games left v top eight teams: 4
Games left v bottom six teams: 1

VORIAN AGENCY EAST PERTH EAGLES
Current position: 13th
Current record: 6-14

Run home: Lightning (H), Flames (A), Slammers (A), Hawks (H), Giants (A*), Wolves (H)
Home games left: 3
Away games left: 3
Games left v top eight teams: 4
Games left v bottom six teams: 2

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography