Northies warmed up for the game with a strong showing against Newcastle’s Valentine Football Club in a trial last Saturday, but are wary of the threat the Scorpions pose.

“They were a very strong side last year. They were grand finalists,” assistant coach Gavin Thompson said.

“We’ll be expecting a tough test.”

He said morale is good at the club with over 40 players regularly attending training, and likes the mix of the squad.

“We like the fact that we’ve got young players and a little bit experience,” he said with the likes of Ben Todd and Ben Van Aanholt returning to the club.

They still do have a lot to work on, and if they’re to be successful on Saturday will have to limit the impact Scorpions skipper Ben Wright has.

“We’ll need to close Ben Wright down and stop his distribution from the midfield,” Thompson said.

“And Cody Watts playing up front has got a lot of pace.”

If Wright can start distributing to him that will spell problems for them.

Despite undergoing changes in the off-season the Scorpions are confident of being a force again this year. 

“The squad is starting to come together nicely under our new coach Eamon Hynes,” Wright said. 

“A few fresh faces around the club as well so its looking promising for the upcoming season.”

This weekend’s encounter will test the Scorpions’ new combinations and president Joe Campbell said his team won’t take them lightly after they spent last year in a rebuilding phase. 

"I think they are going to be an improved team from last year, two years ago they made the grand final then they lost a lot of players and they have gained three or four players back,” he said.

Souths had the chance to test some of their new players when they came up against Newcastle’s Gardens United in a trial match last Saturday. 

The game finished as a 3-3 draw but it wasn’t the result the club were looking at. 

“It was just good to get a hit out with a lot of new combinations needing some time to come together.

“We had majority of our first grade out of our trial so this weekend’s game still should be a little fresh for some of the new guys playing in the yellow and green,” Wright said.

Northern Inland Football General Manager Gavin Flanagan is excited about this year’s competition.

“We have a new format for the Cup in Northern Inland this year, with two teams rather than one representing the zone in further rounds,” Flanagan said.

In the other Saturday game defending Northern Inland Premier League premiers Oxley Vale Attunga host East Armidale while on Sunday TAS take on Demon Knights in Armidale, and Quirindi meet Norths United.