FOR the first time this summer Kiewa will have its full strength squad to pick from when it tackles Yackandandah in a cut-throat final today.
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Under the six-team final format the Roos could lose and still feature in the second week of finals.
But a Kiewa loss would see them watching the rest of the finals from outside the boundary ropes.
Captain Shane Streeter says with a full squad to choose from they will be hard to beat.
“I stand by what I said a couple of weeks ago — if we play to our potential we don’t fear anyone,” he said.
“If we play our best I’m confident we can beat Yack and anyone who comes after that.
“We have Josh Bartel and Kelvin Bailey back this week, while Graeme Edwards will be the better for his first game in several months last week.
“The Roos beat us the only time we played them this year but we were a bit unlucky.
“There were some crucial decisions that went against us at critical times in the match.
“We also didn’t have Ryan De Vries for that game and he has come on since Christmas — I don’t think there is a more intimidating bowler in the competition right now.”
Yackandandah captain Mick Walker said they would be prepared for a full strength Kiewa.
“They have any number of batsmen such as Bartel, Bailey, Ash Sutherland who have the ability to take the game away from you in a few overs,” he said.
“We know what has happened in the home and away season means nothing now — what’s done, is done.
“But we need to play the kind of cricket that we’ve played all year and not make a massive deal of it being a final.
“Playing at home is no great advantage — the pitch is good for batting and our job is simply to get runs and take wickets.”
But Streeter believes they will have to adapt to the peculiarities of the Yackandandah Cricket Ground.
“The pitch itself plays a bit slow and batsmen tend to get out playing across the line,” he said.
“But assuming everything looks OK we would look to bat if we won the toss.”