Wangaratta star Adam Burchell said his team will need to stop "possibly the best player in the league" to progress to their first cup final since 2015 on Sunday.
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Burchell regards Boomers coach Andrew Grove as the main threat to the Devils' aspirations of collecting the league and cup double when they clash in the semi-finals at La Trobe on Sunday.
Boomers eliminated Wangaratta at the same stage of the cup competition last year, before falling to Myrtleford in the decider.
"The bloke is just phenomenal," Burchell said.
"He can just ghost from one side to the other and he creates so much play.
"If you keep Grove quiet, you have the best chance of beating Boomers.
"Personally, I think Boomers are more than a fifth, fourth side in this league."
Burchell believes the Devils' playing group is very driven and would be gutted if it didn't finish the season with more silverware.
"Even from pre-season back in January, we said we wanted to win three cups - the Andronicos (pre-season cup), the league and the cup itself," he added.
"We've got 14, 15 blokes rocking up to training and we're ready to go."
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Wangaratta has become even more threatening in attack since welcoming former A-League striker Andrew Barisic mid-season, but it hasn't just been his on field efforts that have impressed Burchell.
"You'd think someone that has come from the A-League or NPL would rock up and be a bit 'big time', but he's an amazing fella," he said.
"He really likes helping out the young blokes, gets around the lads and he's a pleasure to play with as well."
Boomers' assistant coach Wayne Fraser knows the side will have to be much better defensively after conceding five goals against Wangaratta in the penultimate round of the league season.
He believes if the side can replicate its performance against Albury City, they will go a long way towards making their second straight cup final.
"We scored three goals against them last time, but we have to defend. It's no good going out there and having a shootout, because if I think it's a shootout, we'll get beaten," Fraser said.
"You've got to make sure the defensive players do their defensive duties first.
"One of the things we probably don't do because we like to attack is that we get our defensive players pushing forward, and that can leave some holes."
Defender Dylan Nhansana has again been ruled out with bone bruising.