Great Western will face its biggest challenge of the season so far, hosting reigning premiers Lismore-Derrinallum this weekend.
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The Lions extended their unbeaten start to the season last week in a taxing affair against the Ararat Eagles.
“Everyone was still a bit sore at training – our legs were pretty heavy,” Great Western coach Will Bell said.
The Demons go into the game with a significant boost of confidence having won their first game of 2018 last weekend.
“The won the premiership last year so we expect them to still be the best team in the competition,” Bell said.
“With our home crowd behind us hopefully they can help us across the line.
‘Our defensive pressure has to be on in all the four quarters.”
Nick McCartney and Tom Robinson are set to miss extended periods of time on the sidelines after sustaining ankle injuries last weekend.
McCartney will miss 10 to 11 weeks with a fractured ankle while Robinson should be back within the month (ankle strain).
Bell said while the losses hurt he has faith in the club’s depth.
“We have a good core group of players in the seniors and reserves who are desperate to prove themselves, especially against a high quality team,” he said.
After being caught out at times on the bigger ground at Ararat last weekend, Bell said there is no margin for error at the smaller Great Western oval.
“We have to bu better with our skills than we were against the Eagles – we just turned it over far too much,” he said.
“Playing on small ground there no room for error, if we miss targets it will come back at us with speed.”
A win would give the Lions a 4-0 record to start the season.
“That would be an absolute dream start but we are keeping level headed and just worried about how we can beat our opposition on Saturday,” Bell said.
