ANU fell 11-0 to Wests in the opening round, before a 14-0 drubbing at the hands of Goulburn last weekend, while the Spitfires hit back from a 7-2 loss to Goulburn with an inspired 4-2 victory against Old Canberrans in week two.

Spitfires co-coach Tony Donnelley was proud of the response from the side and the intent they showed.

"The way we moved the ball around, our leading off the ball and the mongrel towards the 50-50s - they wanted it more than the other team," he said.

Oscar Smart will miss this weekend's clash due to the state commitments at the under-18s nationals, while Larry Simpson and Kurt Beath are also unavailable.

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Josh Verity returns from illness, while David McQuilton comes in for his first game.

"They (ANU) could be rubbish one week and the next week they could knock off one of the top teams because you never knows who's going to be available for them," Donnelley said.

"We got caught out by them last year, we went in pretty cocky and ended up losing the first one, but we pulled it together and played a lot better the next one.

"Hopefully we can keep doing what we're doing and push for double figures, otherwise we're not really playing how we should be."

First whistle is 3.15pm.

The Spitfires women also travel to the nation's capital to take on University of Canberra at 2pm.