League general manager Dale Norman said recent interleague fixtures had been all about restoring that sense of pride.

“There’s always a lot of pride and respect on the line,” he said.

“We lost in 2012 by 100 points but then we worked our backsides off to get the next two wins.

“We’ve just tried to continue to strengthen that sense of pride.”

But coach Peter White is under no illusions and knows the road to Warr- nambool to take on the Hampden league this weekend is a long and difficult one.

“It’s a big challenge heading down there,” he said.

“It’s a good standard but we’re confident we have a group that can go there and challenge them.

“It’s always a bit of an unknown with oppositions grounds and going on second hand information.

“But we’ve prepared well and will travel on Friday morning so we’ll have plenty of time to adjust.”

White said the league would have to counter prolific Hampden goalkicker Travis Graham, who has bagged 29 goals so far this season for Warrnambool.

“They’ve got a formidable forward set up,” he said.

“Graham’s a big left footer and we’ll certainly have to restrict the ball to him as much as possible.

“They’ve got a couple of big guys so hopefully we can match up against them.”

Smith said onballers Jordan Souter (Tongala) and Dean Moon (Echuca), as well as forward Paul Newman (Tongala) were under injury clouds ahead of the game.

“But the whole team has been training well and there’s good players there,” he said.

“We’ve got three or four Melbourne-based guys travelling up to train so they’re all committed.

“It’s just about making sure it’s as enjoyable as possible — don’t over-complicate things.

“You can only put your structures in place and let the guys play with a bit of initiative — we’ve got a good side.”