Similar to the East Point scenario, this game’s outcome will tell us more about high flying Sunbury (4-0) on their home deck when they meet reigning premiers Darley (4-1).

The Lions have done everything right under new coach Matt White, making the adjustment to team planning and preferred structure look seamless.

Nonetheless, four games in is not enough sample size to get carried away with any forecasting just yet.

Let's see how the Lions perform under the pressure against the likes of Darley, East Point at Eastern Oval (Round 8) and league heavyweights Melton (Round 10).

I'm happy to give decimated North Ballarat a mulligan for their effort last week, due largely for health reasons.

So that leaves the Lions form with a win over Redan (25 points), Melton South and Bacchus Marsh.

In fairness, each of the Lions’ four wins have shown compliance and an heir of dominance that Devils’ coach Dan Jordan cannot ignore.

While Lions forward duo Jake Sutton (20 goals, comp rank #2) and Mitch McLean (13, #6) make up 44% of all Sunbury goals to warrant like for like attention, it's the efficiency of their defence that has seen the greatest improvement on last year.

Tyson Lever, Nathan Wood, Jack Newitt, Jack Hannett, Sean Reilly, newcomers Dean Muir and Jordan Tentonello make up an impressive back seven option and are clearly thriving under the team defence theory with high efficiency numbers.

Their ability to exit cleanly at low risk has been a feature- Wood, Hannett and Muir especially. You know what you're getting with Lever - essentially the licensed beneficiary to rebound pressured or bombed entries with his customary intercept mark game.

However, the likelihood of an experienced Devils’ midfield succumbing to the Lions intentions are slim at best.

In form trio Brett Bewley, Luther Baker and Matt Denham remain the competition yardstick of midfield combos and will stretch the Lions core for output with and without the ball.

The dominance at their two previous meets was palpable, two wins for the Devils by a margin of 40+ points.

Any midfield advantage for the Devils will equate to considerably more entries inside 50 to a feverish forward line eager to put a dent in the Lions new found levels of trust and confidence.

For the record, Sunbury (4-0) have won 15.5 of their 16 quarters to date (comp rank #1), Darley 15/20 (comp rank #3).

PLAYER WATCH
Mitch McLean (Sunbury)
Confident pressure small forward enjoying weight of Lions forward 50 entries. Kicked 13 goals from 4 games (comp rank #6)

Brett Bewley (Darley)
The reigning dual Henderson Medalist even had Lions fans in awe at his last trip to the Clarke Oval with 50 possessions and six goals out of the midfield. Ridiculous numbers!

SCOOP’S TIP
Darley