Haisman Shield | In-form Kyabram travels to Eagles’ nest for tantalising clash against ladder-leader Katandra

But, with clashes against fellow contenders Numurkah and Mooroopna washed out along the way, it is safe to say they have not faced a test as tough as the ladder-leading Eagles since their opening-round defeat to Central Park-St Brendan’s.

The perfect test for this Kyabram squad as it gears up for a finals charge, coach Jackson McLay said his team could not wait to get stuck into it.

“We are pretty excited about making the trip up there and testing ourselves, we didn’t get the chance to face Mooroopna a couple of weeks ago which was unfortunate and Katandra are obviously flying at the moment,” McLay said.

“With so much talent set to take the field on each team I just think it will come down to which side bats better, that seems to be how the year is panning out with the top sides.

“If we are able to keep wickets in hand and then accelerate in the back end that will be the recipe for getting the win.”

In a match set to be decided by batting, the Redbacks will be over the moon that they have the form player of the competition in Kyle Mueller.

The powerful Kyabram skipper finds himself in a unprecedented patch of form, having produced scores of 131 not-out, 15, 110, 55 not-out and 65 in his past five digs.

But coming up against the competition’s top team, McLay said it would take more than just Mueller to get across the line.

“The way Kyle is playing at the moment has been special, I’ve had people come up to me and say they haven’t seen somebody hit the ball that cleanly so consistently in this competition for a long time,” he said.

“But at the same time, we know it is going to take more than just Kyle to get the job done this week and I’m confident we have the batting and bowling depth to really challenge Katandra.

“We’ve had some good battles over the years against Katandra, so I am pretty confident it is going to be a ripping game.”

For Katandra, the key to victory will be quelling the influence of the in-form Mueller.

Skipper Ben Clurey said it would be a whole-team approach to apply pressure on the Redbacks’ batting unit and hopefully force a mistake out of their red-hot skipper.

“If you put pressure on down the other end, you can make him feel the pressure of being the one that has to score the runs and hopefully force a mistake,” Clurey said.

“But I’ll back our bowling attack to do the job, the plan will just be to attack the stumps and then see how we go from there.”

Currently sitting on top of the ladder, a win on Saturday afternoon would all but secure Katandra the 2022-23 minor premiership.

But for Clurey, the more important aspect of the match will be his side testing itself against another of the competition’s top contenders.

“Kyabram are in ripping form having won their last seven, so these are the sides we are going to have to beat in March if we want to achieve that ultimate goal,” he said.

“We are really excited to test ourselves against Kyabram, having put in good showings against Central Park and Numurkah recently we are pretty confident we will be able to push them all the way.

“Our batting has been terrific in these past few months, so the goal is to build a couple of big partnerships, put over 200 on the board and then let our bowlers go to work.”