For the second week in succession, West Adelaide's men's and women's programs face the sternest of tests - this time against perennial finalists Forestville.

The Bearcats split their games against Sturt last week. Their women recovered from a quarter-time deficit to hold the Sabres to single figure scoring in each of the remaining three quarters, in what turned out to be a comfortable but physical victory against a team missing Angela Marino and Monique Bowley. In Jacob Holmes' debut, Sturt's men did not have it all their own way, with West closing to within 8 early in the fourth quarter.

Forestville's women now start perimeter players Megan Kermond and Mia Newley in the four and five spots and they will be challenged by the frontline of Sam Woosnam, Nikki Martin and Trudy Holland. Look out for a potential matchup of AIS scholars Newley and Martin. Similarly In the men's game, Peter Hoban faces a good test against Blake Truslove and Shane Crothers, though neither started last week and Brad Sullivan was on fire last week with 35 points against Southern. Forestville now starts four guards in Sullivan, Harri Harvey, Matt Sutton and Brad Gerlach and it will be interesting to see which of the four matchup on Ryan Kersten and Anthony Spadavecchia.

While Sturt's "rivalry" opponent was Forestville, this week they face perhaps a more recent foe in Eastern at Mount Barker. Eastern's former Sabre, Brad Hill, leads the league in scoring with 27.4 points per game and Sturt's former Maverick Jacob Holmes had 28 points and 24 rebounds in his first game. Sturt would be favoured to win both the men's and women's games but the Mavericks men's victory over Woodville (helped by a clutch free throw from Cameron Myles) showed that Eastern might not be a pushover.

North's men had some revenge over South last week (the team that knocked them out of contention in 2008), but required overtime and some typical early heroics from Erik Burdon to do it (Burdon had 24 points in the first quarter). Meanwhile Southern struggled against Forestville after a tough derby win against South. In the early game, the Rocket and Tiger women are both on a three game losing streak. All four of these teams have a 3 and 4 record and would be desperate for a win to keep within reach of the top 5.

The split round means more viewing possibilities for Central ABL fans, the Woodville/Norwood and South/Centrals matchups both scheduled for Sunday. Woodville's women have pushed West and Forestville in recent games but with Rebecca Duke returning for the Flames, this week might be tougher again. Similarly Norwood's men have reinjected Todd Matthews into the lineup and with David Cooper likely to return for finals, the Flames have quietly assembled a similar team to 2008. The Warrior men are in the middle of a four game home run, and would be looking for any of a number of players to help carry the scoring load with Josh Knight.

The South v Centrals games at Marion will be incorporated in a Family Fun day including a giant slide, face painting and a three-on-three competition, but the games themselves will have a much less festive atmosphere. A victory to South's women could see them move to third place, a position they have not experienced since April 20 2007, while the men's game will be the toughest of contests - South hoping to escape from last place and Centrals keen not to head there themselves.