The sides faced off in the first game of the season on Good Friday in April, where Stawell came away with a comfortable 69-point victory. 

The Rats’ season has unraveled following that game, with injuries to a cast of senior players plaguing the team so far. 

Ararat coach Terry Keilar said the injuries have “hurt”.

“We have been hit pretty hard, and it is tough to fill the holes that get left by the senior players,” he said.

“The season has not gone as planned that is for sure.”

Keilar said his side has attempted to adapt to their lack of experience in recent weeks.

“In light of injuries and key players missing we have looked at our game plan and tweaked that a bit,” he said.

“In the first half against Nhill we could see the game plan coming into affect and working well for us.”

Ararat will look to put in a strong performance in front of its home crowd with both teams reveling in a strong rivalry. 

“It is always a big match against Stawell. They are like finals games, so we are looking forward to playing in front of a big home crowd,” Keilar said. 

“We expect we are up and about for every game, but there is always something extra when we play Stawell.”

Warriors coach Tom Eckel shared Keilar’s views about the rivalry.

“We hate losing to them and they hate losing to us so there is always a bit of feeling in the game,” he said.

Eckel said despite taking confidence away from their round one victory, the Warriors will withhold judgement of Ararat until the game.

“Round one seems like a long time ago now and a lot of things have changed since then,” he said.

“After the first quarter we will see where we are at and where they are at and go from there.”

Stawell is coming off an impressive win over the Horsham Saints last weekend, moving them into fourth spot on the Wimmera Football League table.

“That win has got us going in the right direction,” Eckel said. 

“We have taken a lot of confidence away from it.” 

Eckel said he has been impressed by the even contribution of his players so far this season.

“Every week we have a good spread of guys putting in which is great to see,” he said.

“Everyone is starting to work well together and play the way we want to.”

Keilar said he is hopeful his side can turn its fortunes around in the second half of the season.

“The club in general has been going well, from the netball side through to juniors, so it is up to us as the senior football team to join in the success,” he said.

Saturday’s game will start at 2.20pm at Alexandra Oval.