North Launceston star Dakota Bannister will make his Redlegs debut, with Philpott flirting at the possibility of sending him to Darren Crawford after his strong return.

"He was one of the best forwards in the state there for a while, so he'll take some looking after," he said.

"They stated that they want to be the number one division one team but I'm pretty confident they want to take a scalp of a premier league team, so while their confidence is up I'd imagine they'll be up and about."

The Blues have been forced to make six changes but Laine Cleaver still believes he has a strong side, welcoming the likes of Jake Williams and Field Reeves.

"I'm really excited, as are the guys at the footy club, obviously playing against a team in the higher division," Cleaver said.

"The side we've got on paper and the side we had last week, we should go alright. I'm pretty pleased with the team we've got and looking forward to the challenge."

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Impressed with his side's thirst for the football, OLD SCOTCH'S Brayley Coombes welcomes back a club stalwart against Rocherlea.

Tom Pedley, who he described as "the heart and soul of the football club for the last 10 years", will play his first match as the Thistles' coach prepares for a tough challenge.

"They're another proud club with some elite players, so we are up for the challenge and really looking forward to it and seeing if we can go one better and get a win on the board," he said.

The Tigers will be boosted by returning trio Sam Maddern, Josh Holton and Lyndon Stubbs after blooding eight debutants last week.

"We are still looking to rotate those young blokes through, so there will be a couple of young blokes making their debut," coach Andrew Cox-Goodyer said.

"This year is about our structure and the way we go about it rather than results."

Coming off a tight win, BRIDGENORTH is looking for their young players to step up once again against UTAS.

With 21-year-old Hamish Armstrong named best on ground, coach Gary Shipton complimented his young brigade and experienced forward Rohan Sergeant.

"Young Daniel Van Noord played his first senior game last week and was very effective with his tackling pressure up forward," he said.

"[Rohan] is a great focal point for us up forward for us, he obviously kicked five goals last week and he's a huge part of our side."

Shipton expects up to three changes, while opposition coach Brodie Tiernan predicts several with Tom Maddock and Martin Chirichiello unavailable.

With 70 per cent of his side playing together for the first time, Tiernan was happy with UTAS' second-half performance but admits the Parrots will be tough.

"It's going to be a challenge, we will look to learn as much as we can," he said.

"Obviously we will watch and learn and see how they do things as well, watch their set ups and see what we can apply to our own game."

DELORAINE coach Lochy Dornauf was very happy with his side's victory but is looking for steady improvement against Meander Valley.

"We played well but there's a helluva lot of room for improvement, we didn't really follow our structure and we were a bit too excited for the first game back as you could imagine given the uncertainty of the season," he said.

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"I know Meander have some good footballers like Richie Heazlewood and Fergus Lawrence. We are quite wary of them, we do have plans for them as well but we will predominantly be focusing on our own game plan."

Meander Valley coach Damien Rhind and his players will look to tap in to the history between his side and Deloraine, with the two teams facing off for the first time in 37 years.

"The boys are really excited to get back to playing footy. After having the bye in the first round and a few of the guys went and watched the other games, they are really excited," he said.

"With the two towns being next to each other, anywhere you go in Tassie or all over Australia, if the neighbouring towns are playing each other, there always seems to be a little bit more in the game."

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