GVL Data | Last time they met: Mansfield and Kyabram

This is a rather foreign position for the Bombers to be in.

For the past five seasons, the Bombers have always known their finals fate ahead of the last two home-and-away rounds.

But this time it's different.

So with their season on the line, Saturday's round 17 clash is sure to cause plenty of interest.

Kyabram comes up against a red-hot Eagles outfit — a side that has won five straight matches.

Thanks to GVL Data, we can get a glimpse of how the two sides fared against each other in round 10.

The Eagles were slick with their ball movement and had Kyabram flat-footed with plus 31 handball receives and plus 55 uncontested possessions.

Mansfield was able to go on and claim a 38-point win in style.

Kyabram, thanks to Jake Reeves and Zac Norris, was able to dominate the hit-outs and the home side collected 13 more contested possessions.

However, Mansfield laid a bruising 78 tackles for the match, compared to the Bombers' 48.

Another interesting detail from the contest was Mansfield's ability to score from stoppages.

The Eagles scored 9.3 (57) from stoppages, with the majority of those coming from ball-ups between the 50-metre arcs.

Midfield gun and inside bull Brett Mahoney was a standout for the Eagles with 33 disposals, 15 contested possessions, six clearances and five tackles.

With teammate Patty Marks back in the side and VFL talent Corey Rich dedicating the rest of the campaign to the Eagles, the midfield battle will be another crucial aspect to this weekend's clash.

Kyabram onballer Kaine Herbert will need to go close to replicating his sublime efforts last week, where he finished with 38 disposals and 11 inside-50s.