Stepping from division one and facing premier league sides, Old Scotch, Meander Valley, University of Tasmania and Old Launcestonians are mixing it with the big boys this season.

Old Launcestonians finished the pick of the bunch last season, securing a finals berth under former coach Paul Beechey and starting to look like a competition threat.

Now, under second-year Blue Laine Cleaver, and having added a handful of premier division talent, the Blues are hoping to raise their standards by competing in the NTFA Shield.

"When we started pre-season, we wanted to play football and had boys who wanted to play football," Cleaver said.

"So, rather than sitting the season out, it was a good opportunity to be a part of it and obviously to play against the better teams and expose our players to better teams to show them what standards there are above our league and see whether we can match it with them."

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As University of Tasmania Lions take their first step in building their new identity, coach Brodie Tiernan had a similar mindset to Cleaver - not focusing too much on the results but on moulding a game style for 2021.

"We've been training pretty hard for a fair few months - we started in October," Tiernan said.

"All the boys were pretty keen, we were getting good numbers and everyone's keen to play footy, so we thought it was a pretty good opportunity.

"We'll learn a lot, the worst thing that's going to happen is that you see some different styles and the ways players play, so hopefully we can take some of that and apply it to our own game."

While Meander Valley coach Damien Rhind will have to wait until round two to step onto the park, the Suns will be thrown straight into the deep-end, facing off against competition heavyweights Deloraine.

The ruckman believes competing in the shield will help develop his club, who showed glimpses of greatness last year.

"I'm going to use this opt-in season as a reinforcement of our game plan across the whole club, through both grades," he said.

"That's where I see the most benefit for our playing group and me as a coach.

"We are going to relish the challenge of playing some guys who are in the premier competition and it will be moreso if we step out there 18 v 18, try and beat that person who is in a better league than you and prove a bit of a point."

Old Scotch will be the first cab off the rank to go head-to-head with a premier league side, taking on 2019 grand-finalists Bridgenorth at Parrot Park.

Thistles captain Alec Fotheringham said his side had plenty of interest leading up to the shield, which made the decision to play simple.

"I think as a club, you're better off being involved than not," he said.

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