With six weeks left in the Shute Shield regular season, the race to the finals is on. 

Warringah are in the box seat to win the minor premiership, but below the Rats very little separates the remainder of the top six. 

The Two Blues, Eastwood and Uni are also still in the finals race. 

Below, we’ve taken a look at who each side plays in the final six weeks heading in to the playoffs. 

1st) Warringah – 50 points: Manly (H), Eastwood (H), Randwick (A), Western Sydney (H), West Harbour (A), Southern Districts (H)

The Rats play four or their last six matches at Rat Park and will book in another game at home in week one of the finals, if they can continue their winning ways. On form, you’d expect Warringah to win at least four of their last six and secure the minor premiership fairly comfortably. 

If they do it early enough, they may even get the chance to rest players in the final weeks before the playoffs. 

2nd) Gordon – 44 points: Randwick (A), Eastern Suburbs (H), Southern Districts (A), West Harbour (A), Northern Suburbs (H), Western Sydney (H)

Gordon can boost their top three chances significantly if they can beat Randwick and Easts in the coming fortnight. 

They then face potential banana skin games against Souths and West Harbour before finishing the year with matches against Norths and the Two Blues who both could be playing knockout rugby a few weeks early. 

3rd) Eastern Suburbs – 44 points: Western Sydney (A), Gordon (A), Hunter (Allianz Stadium), Eastwood (A), Sydney Uni (H), West Harbour (H)

Easts have a tough fortnight ahead of them, with road trips to play Western Sydney and Gordon set to test the Beasties finals’ credentials. 

Life gets a little easier for Easts after that, but the Beasties will want to claim a few more scalps against finals teams to build confidence ahead of the playoffs. 

4th) Manly – 41 points: Warringah (A), Southern Districts (H), Western Sydney (A), Sydney Uni (H), Hunter (H), Northern Suburbs (H)

Manly head to Rat Park on Saturday after defending awfully against Gordon last week. If they can’t upset Warringah, there will be some pressure on the Marlins to beat Souths and the Two Blues in the weeks ahead to stop their slide down the ladder. 

They should be good enough to do that, but the Marlins haven’t performed well at the back end of a Shute Shield first grade season in quite a while. 

5th) Randwick – 40 points: Gordon (H), West Harbour (A), Warringah (H), Southern Districts (A), Eastwood (H), Hunter (H)

Randwick look to be finding form at the right time of the year and have a favourable run towards the finals with four matches against sides in the bottom six. 

This week’s match against Gordon and a round 15 clash against Warringah, both at Coogee, should give us a good indication of the Galloping Green’s chances of going back-to-back. 

6th) Northern Suburbs – 37 points: West Harbour (H), Western Sydney (H), Eastwood (A), Hunter (H), Gordon (A), Manly (H)

Norths play four teams below them on the ladder in July but can’t afford too many slip ups. After leaking 38 points against Souths last week, the Shoremen will want to tighten their defence before facing West Harbour, the Two Blues and Eastwood in the coming weeks. 

If they drop one or two of those games, they’ll likely need to beat Gordon and Manly in the final rounds to guarantee finals footy. 

7th) Western Sydney – 32 points: Eastern Suburbs (H), Northern Suburbs (A), Manly (H), Warringah (A), Southern Districts (H), Gordon (A)

The Two Blues attack is close to unstoppable at times at the moment. If they can tighten their defence, they’ll go very close to beating Easts, Norths and Manly in the coming weeks. 

They are most likely going to need to win four or five of their last six matches to break their finals drought, but it’s not out of the question based on Western Sydney’s best form. 

8th) Eastwood – 26 points: Hunter (H), Warringah (A), Northern Suburbs (H), Eastern Suburbs (H), Randwick (A), Sydney Uni (A)

The Woodies are still a chance of playing finals footy, but that could change pretty quickly if they don’t beat sides above them on the ladder. 

They’ll need to produce something special to beat Warringah at Rat Park and Randwick at Coogee but they could be a chance if 19-year old outside back James McGregor gets back to his brilliant best. 

9th) Sydney Uni – 26 points: Southern Districts (H), Hunter (A), West Harbour (H), Manly (A), Eastern Suburbs (A), Eastwood (H), 

Uni also have their work cut out for them but a favourable draw should give hope to those at Camperdown. They play three teams below them on the ladder in the next three weeks and could build some momentum and go on a run. 

Road trips to Manly Oval and Woollahra Oval add to the degree of difficulty, but Shute Shield fans should know never to underestimate Sydney Uni towards the back end of winter.

10th) Hunter – 22 points: Eastwood (A), Sydney Uni (H), Eastern Suburbs (Allianz Stadium), Northern Suburbs (A), Manly (H), Randwick (A)

Hunter won’t return to the finals this year but they could still have a big impact on this year’s competition. 

They could ruin Eastwood and/or Sydney Uni’s finals hopes in the coming weeks, then shake up the top six with four consecutive clashes against teams in the hunt for the playoffs. 

11th) Southern Districts – 17 points: Sydney Uni (A), Manly (A), Gordon (H), Randwick (H), Western Sydney (A), Warringah (A)

Southern Districts would love nothing more than to end Sydney Uni’s season by beating the Students at Camperdown this week. 

And on form, they’re a chance. Souths scored 38 points against Norths last week and could cause an upset or two in the final six rounds. 

12th) West Harbour – 13 points: Northern Suburbs (A), Randwick (H), Sydney Uni (A), Gordon (H), Warringah (H), Eastern Suburbs (A)

Like Souths, West Harbour are also finding a bit of form late in the year and are very capable of beating anyone on their day. The Pirates will also be eager to avoid the wooden spoon but have a tougher road home compared to Hunter and Souths.