AT A GLANCE
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Ballarat v Green Gully
at Morshead Park on Saturday, 3pm.
Under-20s: 1pm
DISCIPLINE will be a major focus for Ballarat Red Devils heading into Saturday's crucial National Premier Leagues Victoria round nine match against Green Gully.
The McDonalds Reds will host Gully in their third straight game at Morshead Park and for one of the few times this year the players will know exactly what to expect from their opposition.
Red Devils player manager James Robinson got a close look of what the Cavaliers are capable of when the two teams squared off in the Dockerty Cup in March.
Robinson learnt plenty in the encounter that saw Ballarat go down 2-1 to the reigning champions.
"When we played them last time the two goals we conceded were from set pieces, so we know what we need to focus on," Robinson said
"The approach never changes even though the results haven't been going our way.
"The training on the park has been really good this week and we need to improve - there's no doubt about that."
The two sides enter the match in remarkably similar positions.
Green Gully sits in 10th spot on the ladder with a 3-5 record from eight matches while Ballarat sits in 11th with a tally of 2-4-1 from seven games.
Both outfits are coming off 4-0 losses but Red Devils will fancy themselves to score heavily and early against a team that has conceded 22 goals for the season - the second most for the league.
However Ballarat will be without the influence of Daniel Firth and Nelson Salvatore.
The two are managing respective ankle and thigh injuries while Shaun Romein will miss through suspension.
Robinson said that there had been a focus to restore discipline this week and expects Liam Harding to start on the ground in the absence of Romein.
"It doesn't bode well that we've had three games out of seven with only 10 players on the field - to get the results that we need there has to 11 players out there," he said
Miles Baker, 16, continues to impress in his role for the senior team while Adrian Curtain made inroads to becoming a regular with a promising performance last week.
EXPECTED LINE-UP: 1 Aaron Romein, 16 Charlie King, 25 Steven Thomson, 18 Daniel O'Donnell, 3 Daniel Tinker, 6 Liam Harding, 5 Adrian Curtain, 15 Dom Swinton, 22 Pat Karras, 31 Simon Murphy, 4 Dane Milovanovic, James Robinson (coach); Subs, 20 Bolish Salvatore, 12 Miles Baker, 40 Jordan Franken.