Liam Cavanagh and Beau Cosson will pull on the Big W jumper for the second time in as many seasons after representing the league during the 2014 win over North Central Football League by 64 points. This year the pair will be joined in the side by talented Rats' talls Justin Summons and Xavier Vearing.

The Wimmera team will be led by Louie Dalziel for a fifth time and the experienced coach said preparation has gone according to plan ahead of the interleague fixture.

"We are pretty happy with our team on paper," Dalziel said.

"You always think about the team you want, but sometimes it isn't that easy this year we are pretty close to what we wanted."

Cosson and Cavanagh will both be eager to replicate last year's Big W form, which saw the Ararat players selected for AFL VicCountry's number two team and VicCountry's Under 19s respectively.

Dalziel said the Rats duo have the potential to achieve the pinnacle of country football once again and earn Big V selection.

“Liam is in career best form. He is one of our younger guys but he really has potential to go on from here,” he said.

“He is one player we look at and think he might go on to represent the state.

“Beau played last year and will be back and we expect him to be bigger and better.”

In the build up to picking the team, Dalziel put an emphasis on players that have been in good form at their clubs, which led to the selection of ruckman Vearing and key forward Summons.

Summons has played just five games for the Rats after being recruited during the off-season.

“The players’ current form really counted for a fair whack of selection,” Dalziel said.

“It is okay to train well, but you need to be playing well on the weekend as well.

“We always like keeping our younger blokes in the squad and Xavier is one that played in the under 18s. He has played a couple of good games for Rats and he has trained well for us.

“We don’t know a whole lot about Justin, but what we have seen has been really good and he fits in with what we are looking for.

“Ararat has four guys in the team this year which is exciting for their club. They are an up and coming senior team and for them to have plenty of players coming through the ranks is a great achievement.”

The Big W has no shortage of talent across all lines, with strong in and under players and as many as 10 to 11 footballers capable of rotating through the midfield according to Dalziel.

Horsham Saints forwards Sam Jasper and Jacob O’Beirne will be key to Wimmera’s scoring power, while Horsham Demons’ onballer

Billy Lloyd has dominated the competition over the first five rounds and will be looking to continue that form.

Stawell is also well represented with wingman David Morris, onballer Brad Thomas and defender Scott Driscoll all included in the line-up.

“We really wanted players that could play in a multitude of positions,” Dalziel said.

“We have probably got seven or eight from last year playing again. It is nice to keep some of the group together so they know what to expect.”

In a rare occasion, both the Wimmera and Horsham and District Football Leagues will play at the same venue for the Country Championships.

The WFL (16th) versus Bellarine DFL (15th) match will follow the 21st-ranked HDFL’s clash against Central Highlands District Football League (22nd) at 3pm.