Saturday April 17, 8:15pm at Port Adelaide

Given its success in the 70s and 80s, West has had high expectations of its men's teams, and there's an air of optimism that this could be the year the Bearcats return to greatness. With the progression of its junior guards, the addition of NBL veteran Brad Davidson, and a healthy lineup, the planets appear to be aligned.

In just three games this season, Davidson has shown why he may still be on the hitlist of some NBL clubs, and his critical performance in the semi final of the High Stakes Hoops tournament added weight to the argument. At 5'11", Davidson is less limited by his height at this level, and his 24 points in 35 minutes against a Norwood lineup featuring Todd Matthews and Andrew Webber showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with. Just as importantly, he provides solid leadership to Anthony Spadavecchia, Kurtis Phillips and Josh Bond, and with the latter two expressing an interest in traveling to the US, 2010 is perhaps the best year for West to make its run for the premiership.

Mark Molitor has inherited a young Woodville team known for it's hard-nosed defence. Cameron Wilson has been the mainstay for many years, and with the addition of Josh Knight from Queensland in 2009 and Brady Brink from the US in 2010, the Warriors appear to have the makings of a finals team. The difficulty for Molitor is that his team is loaded at 1 or 2 positions. At 6'5"-6'6", Knight and Brink are both forwards, and Wilson too is really a swingman. It may take some time for these three to find where they fit at the offensive end.

Even so, Woodville have been more than competitive, though have perhaps not been rewarding their efforts with victories. After being blown out by Forestville, the Warriors had a tough win against Centrals, before losing close games against South (13 points), Norwood (6 in overtime) and Sturt (3).

Mark Egel's return from Centrals has been helpful, and his size allows Knight and Brink to spend more time on the perimeter. Egel will probably matchup on veteran Blake Truslove to start the game, freeing up Brink to defend Chris Molitor.

The Bearcats have had the ascendancy in recent Western derbies, with Woodville's last victory coming over two years ago.