Ground: Central Park, Stawell, Saturday, 2.20pm.
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Last time they met: Round five, 2014. Dimboola 25.17 (167) d Stawell 10.8 (68).
STAWELL coach Brad Cassidy said his club’s major focus in the next five weeks would be beating a team above it on the ladder.
The Warriors will have the opportunity to do that when they host Dimboola on Saturday.
It is a must-win game for the reigning premier, which sits sixth on the ladder and two games outside the top five.
After a confidence-boosting performance against Warrack Eagles, Cassidy said it was also a match his Warriors could win if they played at their best.
“We want to finish off the year as well as we can,” he said.
“We’re playing at home and we really want to try and turn that three-quarter effort into four quarters this week.
“One thing we need to work on a little bit more is our skill level and possession retention – once we get it, we don’t want to turn it over.”
It will by no means be an easy task for the Warriors, who lost to the Roos by 99 points earlier this season.
“We certainly know what they’re capable of, we saw that in patches in our last game,” Cassidy said.
“Once they got up and about they were a hard side to peg back.”
Ash Clugston, Lachie Watts and Lachie Exell combined for 14 goals in the clubs’ previous meeting in round five and will again prove a handful for the Roos.
Cassidy said it would be pivotal to place pressure on the Roos up the ground.
Midfielders Andrew Seers and Tyler Blake have been influential in the Roos’ victories throughout the season.
For the Warriors, under-17s product Ben Taylor will make his senior debut at the expense of Michael Hackwill.
“I’m really excited about what Ben can bring,” Cassidy said.
“He’s got good pace and is prepared to take on the opposition – it’s exactly what we need for Dimboola.”
Cassidy said midfielder Aidan Potter was in doubt, while Jesse Eckel and Jorah Margetson would again miss.
The Warriors will look to the likes of ruckman Shane Field, skipper Tom Eckel and midfielder Cam Kimber to continue their strong work in the middle of the ground.
