The Maroons have beaten the Lions in nine out of their past 10 meetings by big margins and the time has come for a Moe win.

The Lions have dropped only one game against Sale and were impressive against Leongatha, Morwell and Warragul.

Troy Makepeace has made a big difference to the Lions and his young team will be fighting fit after resting last weekend.

Moe's midfield is good and with players like Gary Blandford, Chris Hancock, Stuart Robertson, Peter Ainsworth and Chris Smogavec in form they will keep the Maroons busy.

Hancock's duel with Rohan Hore will be one of the highlights and whoever gets on top will give his side plenty of drive.

Maroons Sam McCulloch and Matt Habel will have their hands full against the young Moe forwards and with Michael Burge running into form it will not be an easy game for the Lions.

Tony Lane is happy with the way his new-look side is progressing and with an ounce of luck could have had another couple of wins.

Tim Aitken is a plus up forward and showed great courage to return after receiving a corked leg and booted five goals.

Michael Geary has started to show a bit of form and has lightning speed, although he let himself down with a couple of poor shots on goal that went out of bounds on the full.

Tigers suited to spacious Garfield ground

MORWELL travels to Garfield and has never beaten the Stars on their home territory.

But there is a first time for everything and the Stars are not travelling well, especially after going down by two points against Leongatha last week.

Morwell was impressive against Traralgon and won with a couple of its better players on the sidelines.

Liam Visser, Lachlan Dowling and Jayden Embry were all playing well until sidelined and the Tigers will hope they are available for this week's important match.

With the competition so even the Tigers cannot afford to drop too far off the pace.

One win from five rounds is not the sort of start any coach wants as the pressure mounts every week and there is even less margin for a loss.

Jason Macfarlane played his best game since coming back to coach the Tigers and he makes a big difference to the midfield.

There are still a few places up for grabs in the side and Shannon Russell, Courtney Sherriff and Michael Mooney are in the mix.

Garfield's new coach Brent Eastwell has a big job on his hands as well and before the season started the Stars were one of the teams destined for a finals place this year.

With the turmoil at Garfield early on Eastwell should have settled the side down to the routine he would like implemented.

Morwell players like Ryan Allan and Lachlan Dowling need plenty of room to move about.

On the spacious Garfield ground their style of play could be suited to the conditions. However the Morwell midfield needs to drive the ball forward and not go the long way.

Cellar dwellers face off

DROUIN and Leongatha should turn on an entertaining match with the Parrots holding the upper hand in their 19 matches played against each other.

These two clubs date back to 1934 and it took another 65 years before their paths crossed again in 2005.

Leongatha has won the past three meetings and except for their last meeting, all games have been relatively close.

If the Hawks play four consistent quarters they will get the four points and they only lost in the dying seconds against in-form Warragul last weekend.

Leongatha looks a better side on paper but at home Drouin will win narrowly.

Tough ask for Gulls

WARRAGUL will be put to the test against the rampaging Sale after being belted by 125 last time they played in Magpie territory.

The inclusion of David Scott-Smith has given Warragul a focal point up forward and he is a strong mark and an accurate kick for goal.

The Warragul midfield is one of the best going around and their Sale counterparts will need to be on top of their game.

It is a tough ask for the Gulls to win at Sale and they may have to wait until the return match late in the season.

Maffra has the bye this week.