It was October 2018 when the Cats and Tigers last crossed claws in the Haisman Shield, and December 2016 when they last completed a two-day fixture.
But that will not stop this final round contest from being taken straight from the top draw.
The Cats are third on the table, staring down a home final and a potential return to the top of the Haisman Shield dais since the 2003-04 win against Central Park, while the Tigers need to pull off a supreme outright heist to give themselves a chance of avoiding missing finals for the first time in decades.
Mooroopna secured an outright of its own last week against Tatura — with Shoaib Shaikh (92) and Henry Barrow (10-93 for the match) the stars — and will be looking to roll that momentum straight through the Tigers and into knockout action.
“We need to make sure we can take the best form possible into the finals,” Cats coach Brad Lowe said.
“It’s an open season, we probably haven’t been in the best form since Christmas, but you could probably say that for most of the top six.
“The big focus will be to get a bit more out of our top six. If we can do that I think we can be really dangerous come finals time.”
The Tigers went down to Waaia and will be looking to bounce back from that performance.
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