By Dale Fletcher

Both Sturt Sabres and West Adelaide Bearcats will be out to squash demons of grand finals past this Saturday night at the Dome in the men’s Central ABL decider.

The Sabres will be looking for revenge after succumbing to Norwood Flames 94-84 in last year’s final while the Bearcats will be looking for retribution after Sturt stopped the Bearcats at the last hurdle 101-88 in the Bearcats’ last grand final appearance in 2001.

Both sides are in peak form leading into the decider and put on a cracking second semi final at Port Adelaide a fortnight ago, decided in the final seconds when Jacob Holmes lifted Sturt on his back in the final quarter and escaped 67-65.

The Bearcats responded magnificently last week in disposing the three-peat seeking Norwood Flames 87-79 with Chris Molitor regaining that all important shooting touch.

Molitor torched the Flames for 26 points at 77 per cent and the match up with Holmes sets to be a beauty and one that could swing the game either way.

Both sides would have learnt from past failures after Sturt went down in last year’s decider against the Flames after having the week off and West coughing up a 15-point lead to Sturt only a fortnight ago.

The Bearcats literally have the advantage inside with the height of Molitor and centre Blake Truslove and coach Paul Bell has to find a way to utilise such an advantage on the big stage and curb the Holmes factor.

In the backcourt, look out for former Adelaide 36ers teammates Darren Ng (Sturt) and Brad Davidson (West) battling away from beyond the arc and playing a majority of the match very close to each other.

West have the depth at the guard spot with Anthony Spadavecchia and veteran Adam Pearce running the point duties.

Spadavecchia single-handedly won the game with 15 final quarter points in the Bearcats only triumph against Sturt this season, a 77-71 success at Port Adelaide in round 16.

Sturt youngsters Tom Daly and Corey Maynard will be out to prove a point against fellow under 20 state teammate and Bearcats x-factor, Josh Bond.

Off the bench both sides have key players that can strike at anytime. The Sabres will look to the flair of Marcus Ng and Mark Bauer to stop one of the West big offensive weapons while Todd Gower will add some grunt in the middle.

West will look to Bond, Pearce and Ben Evans to fire with Evans more than likely to see a lot of Holmes throughout the match.

It has been a dry spell for both sides when it comes to championship glory, the Sabres last tasted success in 2002 with a 126-116 win over Forestville when the likes of Oscar Forman, Matt Illman, Jason Williams and Paul Bauer were running around in the double blue while West have to go all the way back to 1996, when Brad McKinnon hit the game winner in a 79-78 win over Noarlunga City Tigers.

If the grand final is anything like the second semi, then sit on the edge of your seats and enjoy biting your fingernails.

Tip off is at 8.15pm.

Potential starting five match-ups:

Corey Maynard v Brad Davidson: A true master versus apprentice match-up with the new guard in Maynard up against the experienced Davidson.
Both can light up from outside and find teammates for open shots, should be a great match up all game long.

Tom Daly v Anthony Spadavecchia: The Sabres young backcourt will be tested against Spadavecchia, Bond, Pearce and Davidson.
Daly can also hit the open three point shot and can attack the hoop but he needs to stop the penetration of Spadavecchia, who can create havoc for opposition defences.
Spadavecchia has had two down games in this finals series, expect him to fire.

Darren Ng v Kurtis Phillips: Probably the best match up for West coach Paul Bell is to give the Darren Ng assignment to Phillips.
His reach and athleticism will trouble Ng and the ability to play with a little more reach could be pivotal.
Also expect to see Ng and Davidson matched up at some point as well as Phillips heading inside for time on Holmes, Warbout and Gower

Jacob Holmes v Chris Molitor: Holmes has had the edge over Molitor in all three Sturt-West encounters in 2010 and will need to lower the colours of the Bearcats star forward again if the Sabres are to taste championship glory.
Holmes will take a lot of confidence into the game after his heroics at Port Adelaide two weeks ago and West need to stop the Jacob juggernaut to be any chance.

Jan Warbout v Blake Truslove: With the size advantage to West, the Bearcats need Truslove to play the game of his life.
Truslove needs to dominate the boards and finish off around the hoop to be a force in the keyway while staying out of foul trouble.
Warbout and when Todd Gower enters the game, will look to keep Truslove quiet and make him work hard at both ends of the court.

Off the bench: Sturt have the edge with the experience of Mark Bauer, Marcus Ng and Todd Gower, any of the trio could potentially start, while rookie Nathan Spehr will be hoping his old club does not steal the glory from the Sabres.
West have plenty of experience also with Adam Pearce, Ben Evans and Shane Crothers all a part of the last West grand final side in 2001. Evans in particular is a great match up for Holmes.
The x-factor for West is youngster Josh Bond, who has the potential to light up the grand final from beyond the arc given the chance.