Playing his first season at North Launceston, Rushton has spent seven weeks injured on the sidelines after last playing in the 69-point round 11 win over Launceston.

The former Rocherlea flag winner was one of three inclusions for North Launceston, with Will Edmunds and debutant Will Haley replacing Ben Elmer, James Curran and Connor Pearton.

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The Blues brought Ben Killalea and Jayden Hinds in for Toby Lucas and debutant Josiah Burling.

Set to play the remainder of the season on the road, Bombers coach Taylor Whitford said his players were primed for action following their final bye of the roster.

"We gave them the weekend off and they've come Monday and it's like a completely different group - they're refreshed, they're keen and they're ready to go," Whitford said.

"It's quite funny how you give them two or three days off and they're like that, we're really excited for this weekend and what we'll bring.

"We've ramped up a little bit what we're doing in training and even the attitude has ramped up with our guys."

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

Launceston were held to their lowest score of the season when the two sides last met, resulting in the Bombers' 17^th consecutive derby victory.

Since then the Blues have strung together their best football of the season, culminating in a shock win over Lauderdale, before stumbling at North Hobart.

"From what I can see their effort was down [against the Demons], and their effort over the last month has been super," Whitford said.

"They outplayed Lauderdale in a lot of areas that Lauderdale pride themselves on and Launny did it better ... we're expecting that Launceston to rock up.

"A lot is spoken about their youth and developing side but some of the players they've got, they've got a lot of experience within that group with Thorp, [Dylan] Riley, [Jobi] Harper, [Jay] Blackberry, [Jake] Smith.

"It's a great game and we're really looking forward to it."