The Ararat Rats will be at home for the first time in 2017 when they host Horsham Demons in round two on Sunday.
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The senior football team is coming off a loss to the Warriors while the A Grade netball team had a comfortable win to start its season in style.
Senior coach Terry Keilar said the team had made the most off the week off after its season opener.
"The boys have had the spell and been able to get themselves right after a physical game,” he said.
“We have a few who have not been able to get up – Lachie Hamilton has an ankle injury while James Laidlaw and Liam Arnott have hamstring injuries.
“We have some good depth with Xavier Vearing who will be in for his first game of the year and we will wait on Paddy Turner to see if he is available as well.”
The Demons are coming a physical match-up of their own when they faced the Horsham Saints in round one and finished 42-point winners.
Keilar said the team was wary of the team and will need to be at their best to win.
“It is a bit of the unknown, but they are up and about,” he said.
“They have brought a few players in, their ruckman is a key player for them but we have a lot of faith in our on ball brigade that runs pretty deep.”
While the Demons have started the season well, Keilar said the Rats still believed they could win.
“We go in with confidence we can win every game we play and playing at home should help.
“The boys should be very excited, it means the home crowd should get a look and hopefully the home ground gives us a bit of an advantage.
“We have not changed too many things during the break, we were pretty strong in the contest but were not able to stop them defensively once they got it out, so that has been our focus.”
Keilar said the leadership has kept things positive on the track, rather than dwelling on the negatives.
“The boys are keen to get off to a better start this week for sure,” he said.
The A Grade team will be looking to continue its perfect start against the Demons who had a 17-goal win to start their season.
The Rats will have to closely guard Demon shooter Emma Buwalda who sunk 40 goals in round one.
The Ararat midcourt is a strength of the team.
Their performance will be critical.
