ARARAT returns to Alexandra Oval tomorrow keen to put an end to a two game losing streak in round eight of the Wimmera Football League.
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The Rats will take on a winless Warrack Eagles, and while the home side will start favourite, anything less than a four quarter effort will be a failure in the eyes of coach David Hosking something that has been missing during the past fortnight against the Horsham Demons and Minyip/Murtoa.
Following last week's performance Hosking said his team needs to recapture its confidence and hardness.
The coach has put it on his experienced players to set the tone early against the Eagles.
"To be honest we are going to have to put the acid on a few of our leaders," he said.
"We need a lot of them to stand up and start leading and they're not at the moment.
"What I hope and expect is A - we don't take Warrack for granted and think we are just going to win because of their record so far this season and B - it is time for us to get back to those basics of football and execute them well.
"I'm confident if we do those two things properly, the result we go in our favour."
The last time these two teams met was in round one at Warracknabeal, where the Rats triumphed over adversity with a hard fought five point victory after being decimated by injury in the lead up and during the first quarter.
Hosking said a lot has changed since that encounter.
“That was probably as weak as we’ve been all year in terms of being down on personnel, so to get up and win up there with what we had available wasn’t a bad effort at all,” he said.
“We’ve got a vastly different team now and so have they.
“Round one was probably as strong a line-up as they’ve had in, but now they have been weakened by injury and we’ve been strengthened by players returning.”
Ararat will welcome back Jake Williamson this week, but will be without James Laidlaw after he suffered concussion late in the fourth quarter against the Burras.
“What we are learning about concussion nowadays is you just don’t muck around with it,” Hosking said.
“The evidence says don’t take a risk with this sort of thing, so we won’t even consider him for selection this week.”
With two rounds until the official halfway mark of season 2015, the Rats are sitting at four wins three losses, but have a good chance to improve that record to six and three with winnable games against the Eagles and Stawell.
Hosking said that is the bare minimum he expects in the next fortnight, beginning tomorrow.
“We’ll simplify things as much as we can,” he said.
“We will ask our leaders to stand up and show the way, particularly being vocal and instructive around stoppages and we’ll ask our midfield to run their guts out.
“We have got to win both games before the bye. That is the pass mark, simple as that.”
For the second year in a row, forward Beau Cosson has been included in the VicCountry Number Two squad and Liam Cavanagh in the VicCountry Under-19 squad following impressive performances for Wimmera during the Country Championships last month.
Ruckman Xaiver Vearing has also been named in the 64-man under-19 group for the first time.
The VicCountry teams will take on representative sides from the Victorian Amateur Football Association on July 11 at Bendigo’s Queen Elizabeth Oval.
The squads will eventually be trimmed to 22 in the lead-up to the match, with trainings to be held over consecutive Sundays on June 14, 21 and 28.