Coming within an after-the-siren kick of the ladder leader, coach Bobby Beams was full of praise for his Parrots outfit, labelling them "phenomenal".

"We had a lot of plans going in, they stuck to everything we asked them to do and apart from just not getting the job done, it was a tremendous effort," he said.

"The new lighting and drainage meant it was a pretty good night for footy.

"Obviously the lights are very good and we'd had a bit of rain in the week and the ground was in pretty good nick for the game."

Beams hopes to get a similarly impressive crowd to the game on Friday night, with young Parrots Jaymee Wright, Emma Woods and Georgia Grima all making their debut.

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

After last week's clash against George Town was rescheduled, Longford will be playing its first game in almost a month after playing South Launceston on June 5.

Cabel Hall's Scottsdale outfit plays host to Deloraine after coming back from the three-week break with a win.

Beating Evandale having played Launceston before the break, Hall said his side were "completely outclassed" when meeting the Blues.

"They've got a lot of firepower and although we competed reasonably well for parts of the game, they were just too classy for us," he said.

"We took a lot of positives out of it though, we know we can compete with them for stages, we've just got to be able to compete for longer."

After last week's win, the Magpies sit in fifth, with Hall eager to push for a top-four spot in the second half of the season, starting with the Deloraine game.

"They've been competitive in a lot of their games and we respect their improvement and have a lot of respect for the club itself," he said.

"We are just looking forward to building on our game and concentrating on our structures and doing everything we can to improve."

Deloraine is yet to pick up a win in its maiden season, going down to fellow debutant Hillwood by 41 points last week.

In a battle of eighth and ninth, Meander Valley hosts Old Launcestonians.

Like Hall, Suns coach Scott Bellinger said his players learned from their defeat at the hands of second-placed Old Scotch last week.

"The experience gained coming up against such a well-coached, talented team for my girls was absolutely invaluable," he said.

"I could not have been more proud, there was not one second of that game where the girls did not give 100 per cent.

"We had some nasty injuries too, so the last half of football we had one rotation on the bench against our opposition who still had quite a few."

Bellinger said the injuries will make this week's clash a tough challenge but "you never know what can happen on your home deck".

Old Launcestonians will be looking to get back on the winners' list after defeats to Scottsdale, Old Scotch and South Launceston.

The final game of the round sees finals hopefuls Hillwood and South Launceston lock horns.

The Sharks have been impressive during their debut season, while life under new coach Lenny Towns has started well for South, the 2019 premier.