Panmure and Kolora-Noorat to battle it out for Warrnambool and District league grand final spot

The Warrnambool and District league preliminary final showdown between Panmure and Kolora-Noorat at the Reid Oval on Saturday - for a spot in the grand final against Nirranda - is set to be one of the blockbusters of the season between two teams similar in experience and playing some commanding football.

The two sides got a glimpse of each other a few weeks ago in Mortlake when they played off in a fierce qualifying final played with ferocious intensity, separated by some magic from Bulldog forward Isaac Sinnott who booted three last quarter majors to help his side pull away late in the piece.

What was evident for the majority of the match was how evenly poised the two sides are and how Saturday's clash could genuinely go either way.

At its best, Panmure's ability to slice teams apart through fast ball movement is a sight to behold. It takes serious confidence to be able to sustain the style on bigger grounds but it's worked - for the most part - all season for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs - as a result of how clean the ball goes in to their forward line - are capable of monster scores as was evident when they scored the most points in the home-and-away season.

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Put simply, if you move the ball quickly into a forward line featuring names such as Chris Bant, Isaac Sinnott, Lachlan McLeod, Jesse Dalton, Jacob Moloney and Daniel Roache, it doesn't matter what defensive structures you have.

Power coach Nick Bourke said recently his side was "not far off" against the Bulldogs in the qualifying final, let down by Chris Bant's group's ability to move the ball more efficiently on bigger grounds, but he stressed the importance of playing with confidence.

"We want to just play our brand of footy, when we're up and going we can play some really great footy," he said. "We feel we're thereabouts but if we can get four quarters together we feel we can do some damage."

The ability to cut off the Bulldogs' run and carry and even the midfield battle is crucial to slowing the game down for long enough so the Power can pounce. It will come down to pressure on the ball carrier and a focus on winning contested ball. It makes key cogs such as Joel Moloney, Scott Judd, Ben O'Sullivan all the more important.

Recent history paints a picture of the evenness of the two sides.

Round one is difficult to look too closely at, mostly due to the fact the Power were missing so many key personnel and were always going to be up against it away from home.

But the round 10 thriller - which went the way of the Power by a goal - as well as the qualifying final win from the Bulldogs were matches separated by little more than a few moments of class.

Expect another nervy thriller at the Reid Oval.

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