It is the second time the two teams have played each other on Good Friday with the Warriors claiming the bragging rights in last year’s match.

In a rare occasion, each team will have a former AFL player on the field for the Perc Bushby Cup match with former Saint Leigh Montagna pulling on the red and white while former Collingwood and Fremantle forward Jack Anthony will take to the field for the Warriors.

Both teams will no doubt be hoping to start the season with a win.

Rats coach Shane Fisher said the indifferent start to the season with a month between the club’s round one and two game has changed how the team will approach the game.

“We are primed for Friday, we have loaded up and they will have a few weeks to recover, so hopefully we don’t hold anything back,” he said.

“We will put a decent side on the park, we have a couple of blokes missing including a few blokes who are a bit sore but we have a mostly fit squad.”

Friday’s game will be the first real chance for Fisher to have a look at some of the changes he has made to the game plan on the field.

“We have changed our style and some of our structures over the offseason, just because it is round one, we won’t be sitting on the fence and taking it easy,” hes aid.

“We will certainly be attacking the game pretty hard.

“We will have some genuine matchups to start with, we will have to keep an eye on some of the Stawell players who really set them up and make sure they don’t get out of hand.

“As a coach, I am confident we have done as much as we can to put ourselves into a good position for the start of the season.”

Warriors co-coach Damian Joiner said the team is not underestimating the Rats despite winning both games between the two teams last year.

“Every game is a new game, you cannot really predict anything,” he said.

“Every team these days knows most things about each club, we know what players and areas we need to work on for the game.

“We have had to push everything forward with the earlier start but we have been able to concentrate everything on Ararat for the past few weeks.”

The Warriors will take a strong squad into the match with the majority of the list fit and healthy and available for selection.

Joiner said the number of people available for selection for the game was a big positive ahead of the start of the season.

“We have had a couple of niggling injuries in the lead-up, we have one or two blokes unavailable but the rest are right to go,” he said.

“We are always confident going into every round, really looking forward to a big game and getting the season off to a good start with hopefully a win on Friday.”

First bounce at 2.20pm