The Saints have recruited strongly in the off-season, and with plenty of depth around the club, coach Jake Lowe said his charges were looking forward to having a crack at Scotch in a night game.

"With the roster changes that happened, we're thankful that Scotch have been able to figure out on getting a night game with us so early in the season, and I think it will be a high-quality game," he said.

"A lot of people talk about them having lost a few but we rate them and they still have some quality players, so it is going to be a pretty tight game."

Lowe said they played good footy last week but were patchy in parts and went away from some things they wanted to do.

"A win is a win and we have a few blokes to come back in this week with some quality players in the twos who have played ones, so we are in a really good position at the moment," he said.

Josh Illingworth and James Miller should return this week with four or five others up for selection.

OLD SCOTCH coach Kim Curtis was happy with the way his team played first-up last week, saying they gelled and ran the ball well.

"St Pats are one of the heaviest recruiting sides of the year, with a brand new team this year which I think will be the benchmark of the competition along with Evandale," he said.

"They've played a few more matches than us and we are nowhere near full strength, but we look forward to going up there to see where we are at."

Curtis said he was disappointed that the NTFA had decided that the grand final replay would be played at St Pats instead of a home game for the reigning premier.

Jacob Terry and Shaun Muller are unavailable.

UNI-MOWBRAY plays Evandale under lights at University Oval tomorrow night in another good contest between two first-round winners.

Eagles coach Nathan Lowe said he expected a close game with both clubs having improved and recruited well from last year.

"We played well last week with Perth taking it up to us until three-quarter-time and our fitness showed in the last half," he said.

"We're reasonably confident at home and there is a good feeling around the club at the moment, so we will take it right up to them."

Grant Hogarth misses with concussion and Lewis Taylor comes in.

EVANDALE played good footy in round 1 to beat Meander Valley, and coach James Conroy anticipates a good match-up against a Uni side keen to impress in front of its home crowd.

"In the first half last week, there was a lot of pressure and the scoreboard didn't reflect the quality of the game, but in the second half we were able to open up the game and I was happy with the brand of footy we played," he said.

Conroy said Stuart Mason and Ty Rundle were pushing for senior selection this week.

TAMAR CATS host Prospect at Beauty Point, with the Hawks impressive in beating Lilydale in round 1.

Cats coach Wayne Kirby said it would take his side a couple of weeks to get settled with interrupted pre-season preparation and a number of senior players to come back.

Simon Dingemanse, Matt Wells, Adrian Collins and Liam Shegog will return this week.

"While the scoreboard was in St Pats' favour last week, who I believe will have a major say in the finals and were very impressive, we set some targets during the game which the guys met," he said.

"We will improve but this week will be a tough game again."

PROSPECT coach Danny Hall said the Cats road trip was always tough and Beauty Point had not been a happy hunting ground for them, but they hoped to perform well this week.

Hall was happy with their form first up in beating the Demons, and with a young side said they were looking forward to build on that and keep improving.

Michael and Dan Sinclair faced fitness tests along with a couple of others, with Josh Horder to miss with a foot injury.

MEANDER VALLEY plays Lilydale at Westbury with coach Josh Bennett hoping to bounce back from last week's loss to get a win in their first home game.

Bennett said they would work on improving areas where they fell down last week and expected to have up to six changes, with David Brown and Mike Henry out injured and Sam Wilson-Hassendon and Ezra Steele unavailable.

LILYDALE coach Matt Stokes said it would take time for his side to gel with new players at the club after a tough first-up encounter against Prospect.