Good Friday footy

Both sides will be looking for their second win of the season, and will believe they’re a strong chance to claim the victory in the annual Good Friday grudge match.

The game always has a finals like atmosphere around it, with Rams co-coach Troy Bartlett saying he expects a tough contest.

‘‘There is a healthy rivalry there but Finley have had the wood over us a bit in recent times,’’ he said.

‘‘We’d like to get one back on them but Finley are definitely hard taskmasters.

‘‘They’re in a similar boat to us with a good core local group. I also read that they’ve had the highest number of thirds players from last year coming up to senior level this year.

‘‘We too have had a fair few young blokes step up, so it’ll be two young sides going head to head.’’

The Cats will receive a big boost heading into the clash with Murray Bushranger Ben Ashley-Cooper and key defender Tom McCarney set to return to the Finley line-up.

The Rams will also have some possible changes to the side with forward Jayden Pitts available for selection after missing last week.

With the NAB League also having a bye, young-gun Will Shaw will also be a chance to play for the Rams, though Bartlett was unable to confirm this.

‘‘Jayden was away at a wedding last week so he should come straight in,’’ he said.

‘‘Henry Johnstone was also out with soreness last week so he’ll be a chance, but we won’t risk him if he isn’t 100 per cent.’’

The Rams will be up and about after scoring their first win of the season last week, with a 10 point victory over Congupna away from home in a scrappy contest.

The Cats will also be confident despite suffering a one point loss at home against Cobram last week.

‘‘I think most people within the league have picked Cobram as the side to beat this year, so to come within a point of them was a solid effort,’’ Bartlett said.

‘‘You would think they’d be pretty confident after that but in saying that everyone’s still finding their feet.

‘‘We’re pretty happy with the side after a win last week, especially because we had three late changes before the game.

‘‘We’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves though. It was good to get a grinding win, but our skills weren’t that great throughout the game.’’

Finley have been slow starters during the 2019 season so far, trailing by 43, 30 and 28 points at quarter time in their three games.

Finley playing-coach Tom Doyle said while his side managed to close the margin in two of those games, they can’t afford to continue this trend.

‘‘Our goal (this week) is to come out hard and be right in the contest early,’’ he said.

‘‘We have a lot of new faces this year, including myself as coach, so it’s a bit of a changing of the guard here at Finley.

‘‘We always love coming to Deni and with the big stage of Good Friday, you have to be up and about.

‘‘We’re going in with confidence but we know that Deni have improved on last year, so it should be a great contest,’’ he said.

Selection: Finley by less than a goal.