Goulburn Valley League returns from the interleague bye this weekend and the first bout of wet weather is expected to greet players and supporters.
Round eight has fixtures scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, followed by the league’s Hall of Fame celebration on Sunday evening.
The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted rainfall across the weekend, however, Sunday is shaping up to have the highest fall with between 10-15mm.
Which will no doubt impact Sunday’s contest between Shepparton Swans and Tatura at Princess Park.
“The conditions are looking like they won’t be ideal,” Swans’ playing coach Andrew Riordan said.
“We’ll have to change how we approach the game, we’re going to have to be more direct with the ball.
“It should be a pretty even contest, I’m expecting it to be really close.”
Tatura coach Paul Kirby is hopeful his players can continue to build on the promise they showed before the bye against Echuca.
With experienced heads back in the line-up, Tatura put in a spirited effort against the premiership favourite.
“We enjoyed having some key players like Tom (Sullivan), Brad (Ryan), Chaz (Sargeant), Linc (Wellington) and Cos (Ben Cosgriff) in the side,” Kirby said.
“We moved the ball a lot better and we had plenty of inside 50s against a quality team in Echuca. When we’re on we can mix it with the best, we just need to sustain it for longer.”
Kirby and Riordan expected to have players miss the contest, but the two sides will be bolstered by key inclusions.
The Bulldogs welcome back club favourite Andrew Ciavarella, while on-baller Zac Banch is returning from injury for the Swans.
Kirby said the addition of Ciavarella would lift spirits at the club.
“Civa is a good team player and he adds plenty of spark. He’s really good to have around the group,” he said.
Around the grounds, Shepparton United will play host to Kyabram on Sunday afternoon.
The Demons are set to regain key-position player Mitch Oliver, who has missed since round one.
“We are obviously going into the game full steam ahead, Seymour taught us a lesson last game,” United coach Paul Serra said.
“They’re (Kyabram) a good, contested side, strong, with a lot of experience and we expect them to bring those things.”
Seymour is on the hunt for back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
The Lions play host to Shepparton at Kings Park and are set to welcome back key personnel.
“We will have up to nearly 10 guys between the seniors and reserves which is very exciting,” Seymour coach Ben Davey said.
“We still haven’t worked out where everyone will fit in yet, but Ben Clifton will be back in the seniors.
“Guys like Rory Scopel, Joel Durham, Todd Lawrence, Shane Skidmore, they will all get a game, while Kyle Winter-Irving will be back for his first game of the year in the reserves.”
At Memorial Oval, sixth-placed Euroa will welcome Benalla.
“We are expecting a different sort of a game with the weather set to be a bit ordinary, so hopefully we just attack it with the confidence we’ve showed in the last few weeks,” Euroa coach Scott Rowan said.
“I doubt we will have too many changes from the Kyabram game, so it’ll be good to get some consistency in the team.
“Tom Garside will play his first game for the year and will strengthen our backline a bit more.”
Lastly, Echuca will look to celebrate its 2002 premiership reunion with a win over fierce rival Rochester.
Echuca co-coach Simon Maddox his side was determined to square the ledger after the round one defeat to the Tigers.
“(The points incident) was nothing to do with Rochester, but that might stab a bit of spirit into it for us,” Maddox told the Riverine Herald.
“Our only loss at the moment is through Rochester and that’s through no fault of our own.
“The Rochester rivalry is always there anyway and we’ve got our premiership reunion on the weekend.”