The pair have met three times this season with Border-Walwa holding a 2-1 advantage — the most recent in round 13 when a rampant Magpies outfit won by 33 points.

Federal scored a confidence-boosting 94-point victory over Tumbarumba in the first semi-final while the Magpies lost to raging premiership favourite Bullioh by 24 points in the second semi-final last weekend.

Magpies coach Kade Butters was heartened by the performance against the defending premier last week but he was fully focused on this week’s challenging assignment.

“We tried a few different things last week which seemed to pay dividends,” Butters said.

“No doubt it’s going to take a monumental effort to knock Bullioh off and hopefully we get another crack at them.

“But we can’t worry about Bullioh because we have to get over Federal.”

Butters was an interested onlooker over Federal’s first semi-final win.

“Kris Pearce has got them firing and they had a huge win against Tumbarumba,” he said.

“They won that pretty convincingly and seemed to have a lot more run.

“Their good players are in form and their confidence would be high.

“We are just going to concentrate of playing one-on-one footy and aim to win more contests than we lose.”

The Magpies will be looking for strong performances again from ruckman Jullian Ernst who combined well with midfielders Mark Wilson, Tim Hayes and Jayson Tylee while Ted Coughlan mopped up well in defence last week.

Federal coach Kris Pearce was under no illusion his charges would have to lift.

“Last time we played them we had a full-side in and no excuses so we are going to have to improve,” Pearce said.

“They have got a lot of quick blokes that chip the ball and run that we have to be wary of.

“They know how each other plays and are good at reading how things are going to unfold.”

Pearce felt if the Swans could win the midfield battle, forwards Danny Cohen, Chris Simpson, Paul Giltrap and Leigh Paton could kick a winning score.

“We have got four blokes in there that are capable of kicking bags,” he said.

“They don’t rely on getting the ball delivered lace out either and have the capacity to take strong contested pack marks.”