19-year-olds James Cleaver, Jed Hill and Matty Lloyd all missed the Rebels' trip to Queensland to face the Gold Coast Suns Academy due to commitments with AFL Victoria's Young Guns game. The trio helped the Victoria Country team overcome the Victoria Metro team in a 50-points drubbing.

The boys will be a welcome addition back into the team after the Rebels' 14-point loss to the Gold Coast. Speaking with The Courier, Rebels coach Mark Greig said the loss came down to simple mistakes and inefficiency.

"Our efficiency was horrible," he said.

"We mucked around with the footy far too much in the back half of the ground. (The Gold Coast's) first three goals of the game would have come from us kicking the ball straight to them."

While the return of Cleaver, Hill, and Lloyd is big for Greig's side, key ruck Patrick Glanford will miss Sunday's contest with an ankle injury he sustained early in their last game.

Darcy McEldrew will step into Glanford's role while young developing tall Fergus MacDonald (Redan Football Club) will make his debut with the Rebels.

Sunday's contest is sure to be an important one for both teams as they have each managed only two wins through the first six weeks of the competition.

The Knights may be looking to redeem themselves after the Rebels knocked them out of the Wildcard round of the final in 2018.

After Sunday's loss, Greig praised the work of back-turned-key forward Nick Caris who booted four goals against the Suns and has kicked eight goals in the past two weeks.

"We talk about players making the most of their opportunities and he certainly did," he said"

"He competed when the ball was in the air and brought it to ground, he took four or five marks which game him shots on goal, he turned 50-50 balls into balls that went his way. That's all pretty encouraging for only his second game as a forward."

The Rebels will face the Knights at Mars Stadium at 1pm on Sunday afternoon.