The Rats are desperate to stop their downward slide which has seen them lose their past three matches, with the very real risk of dropping out of the top five for the first time this season.

Louder said Ararat's current position is a far cry from where it was two months ago, sitting atop the ladder with an unblemished record after four rounds.

"Even from where we were at the end of round six when we'd played everyone and we were four and two and had lost those two games by one point and the other by a couple of goals, so to dish up what we have up until now is really disappointing," he said.

"I think they have a point to prove to themselves that they are good enough to beat any team in the Wimmera league."

Both Louder and David Hosking have labelled Ararat’s one point loss to the Eagles in round six as the most disappointing of the year, but rejected the claim that this game is about redemption.

The coaching duo said they just want to see the Rats put in a competitive performance against a fellow finals contender like they know the team is capable of.

Louder said should Ararat get through the next month of football and come away with a top five finish, he doesn’t want to see the side just making up the numbers in September.

“I think the next couple of weeks are about testing ourselves to see whether we have come a long way or a short way this year,” he said.

“If we are going to get beaten easily by Warrack or Dimboola, then we are probably not much good being in the finals anyway.

“Not much good just being in the finals if you aren’t going to be competitive and for the last few weeks we really haven’t even been competitive. Yes, we have come back into the games but that has only been when the opposition has put the match well and truly out of reach.”

Ararat will go into the match without James Laidlaw who broke his hand during last week’s 66-point loss to the Demons, while ruckman Zach Louder is also in doubt for tomorrow with a knee injury.

Dan Vearing will step back up into the ruck position after impressing in the reserves six days ago and either Peter Thompson or Will Bell are the likely candidates to come in for Laidlaw.

Louder said there were still positives to take away from the Rats’ clash with Horsham, including the continued form of Brady Miller, Jack Ganley and Harry Ganley.

Reigning senior best and fairest Aaron Searle was another player who made a return to the best players after somewhat of a lean year.

Louder said the midfielder had been plagued by niggling injuries throughout 2014, but was hopeful he could recapture some of last year’s form in the run home.

“I don’t think we have seen Searle’s best yet, hopefully he has got it in him and we can see that in the remaining games,” he said.

“His work rate is not too bad, but I still think he could work a little bit harder — in fact the whole team can work a little bit harder.

“Getting back to our best isn’t as far away as the players might think.

“Last week definitely didn’t reflect it on the scoreboard, but it was probably our best effort we’d put in for a long time, but what hurt us was our skill level and failure to stick to structures.

“If we do the basics well, we follow team rules and all those little things that we are expected to do, then we can win — that is it in a nutshell.

“If we don’t do them then we will have another bad loss.”