They are among the pre-eminent on-ballers in the competition. Both brilliant in close with quick hands and quick minds. They seemingly rack up possessions at will and very rarely waste them. Their work ethic inspires teammates and brings them into the game. The two players we speak of are Essendon's Joe Misiti and Carlton's Brett Ratten and again they will size each other up this Thursday night at the MCG. Misiti and Ratten are remarkably similar players whose season 2000 statistics you could easily interchange and not recognise the difference.

Both Misiti and Ratten led their respective sides in hard ball gets and loose balls gets in season 2000. Both delivered the most handballs and figured highly in handballs received. Both players had top three finishes in kicks, tackles and kicks inside the forward 50m. The similarities keep mounting up. Neither player is blessed with great foot speed, they weigh the same and there is only two centimetres difference in height with Misiti holding a slight edge. And most of all, their performances in the middle are critical to their side's chances of victory.

""We have played on each other quite a bit over the years and it is always a good battle. He (Ratten) is a quality player and I think the sort of player everyone has a lot of respect for - he is hard at the ball. He has won three best and fairest awards at a very strong club and I think that is a measure of how good he is,"" Bomber midfielder Joe Misiti said.

""But the midfield isn't like other positions on the ground - it's not often you spend the whole day playing directly against the same player. With the rotations different clubs have now it changes quite a bit but I'm sure we will see Ratten in there at most centre bounces,"" Misiti said.

The 26-year-old Bomber has started the season in brillaint fashion collecting 30-plus possessions in the club's opening two victories of season 2001. ""It is always good to get off to a good start both as a team and as an individual. We have a very tough run of games coming up and we can approach them with confidence,"" Misiti said.