Facing Baldivis on their home deck is about as tough a test as there is in the Peel Football and Netball League, but the Mandurah Mustangs will be looking to measure up when the two sides clash in round four.
The Mustangs were given a good indicator they are no longer easy beats when they snapped a derby drought with a win over the Falcons on Anzac Day, but they'll get a better snapshot of whether they're finals contenders or not when they face a hot-to-trot Brumbies outfit coming off a win against Halls Head.
"[The Souths game] was a game we needed to win," Mustangs coach George Costello said.
"We'd already felt like we'd moved significantly forward as a club, but to see the results against a team we hadn't beaten for so long just gave us some confidence to fall back on.
"Now I think we're ready for a game like this. We need to test ourselves against a team like Baldivis to find out a little more about where we sit in the competition."
The challenge that comes with playing on the smaller Baldivis Oval is a unique one for the Mustangs, who will welcome the returns of co-captain Stuart Puls and 2018 best and fairest winner Lachie Bray to their line-up.
A win at the ground would snap another drought against an opponent they've struggled against for some time, with Costello adamant nothing short of a four-quarter effort gets the job done.
"We've played some good footy in all three of our games so far, but I don't think we've played a full four quarters in any of them," he said.
"You could argue our best footy so far came in our only loss against Rockingham back in round one, so if we don't string together four quarters of that we're not going to beat a side like Baldivis."
The midfield battle looms as the intriguing one here, starting with ruckmen Josh Branchi (Baldivis) and Hamish Free (Mandurah).
Both are in cracking form having just been named best-on-ground in their respective Anzac Day clashes in round three, and they're head-to-head match up is going to be a hell of a spectacle.
Then you pit the likes of Brandon Penny, Mitch White, Bray and Alex Cohen against Brendan Tingey, Emmanuel Collard, Aden Field and James Russell and you've got yourself a ripping contest.
The Brumbies head into the clash as favourites, which kicks off at Baldivis Oval on Sunday, 3pm.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
