Timboon Demons coach Mick Hunt says he understands the importance of Saturday’s highly-anticipated clash with Nirranda but is not getting caught up in the hype.
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An upset win could see the Demons move to third on the ladder and strengthen their chances of playing finals.
Hunt said he and his players were not looking any further ahead than Saturday’s match.
"There's no doubt it’s a big game. But I don’t rate this game anymore important than the next few weeks for us,” he said.
"This is a big game for us, the week after is a big game for us and so is the week after and the week after that. We just have to keep winning and doing what we are doing."
The Demons took the honours by four points when the two sides met back in round six. Though Hunt did not buy into talk Nirranda underestimated his team.
"Last time we played well and got them. They never set themselves for us, but they will today,’ he said.
"They came to Timboon and we hadn't won a game and we got a win, and after that we have been going OK.
"But Nirranda is undoutedly the odds-on-favourite without a shadow of a doubt.
"If you go around the league and ask, it would be hard to put money on anyone but Nirranda.”
Nirranda co-coach Shane Threlfall said his team had not and would not underestimate the lower-placed Demons.
"I would be really disappointed if there was any complacency in our group," he said.
"We never take Timboon lightly, it’s one of our arch rivals and we understand Timboon is really hard to beat and we respect the way they hunt the footy and the man.
"They would go in confident against us every time and we are the same in games against them.
“We always prefer to play Timboon on top of the ground and hopefully we get those conditions."
