"I'm not nervous in a sense of having to play my old team," Mahony said. "It's just general nerves, that I know it's going to be a tough game. It will be close, and I guess more than anyone I understand how good they are."

Adding to the intrigue is the possible match up of Mahony and best friend, Merrivale defender Cloe Pulling.

"Me and Cloe have been best friends since we've been six," Mahony said. "I have thought about that (playing directly against her), we probably will.

"It is a bit exciting, but it'll be weird. We've always played on the same team, we played at Koroit together too."

Spending three seasons at Merrivale, Mahony made the decision to join partner Tate Gardner at Panmure this season. She said the move had proven seamless.

"I feel like I'm settling in well, everyone's been really welcoming," she said. "We've only played two games, but each week we've had stuff to work on and little goals we want to achieve, so it's been good."

The 25-year-old has quickly found her footing in the Bulldogs' attack, giving coaches Kim Jamieson and Jess Rohan another reliable shooter alongside goal attack Abby Sheehan.

"I feel like from the very first try out we had, Abby and I just clicked playing together, it was really natural," Mahony said.

"We do play very similarly so it worked in a way, then it didn't in a way. But I think it's just getting used to each other and how we like to play together."

With Panmure and Merrivale both undefeated, their meeting is expected to be one of the bouts of the round.

"We're a relatively new team so we're still trying to gel. This weekend will be good to really push us and see where we're at," Mahony said. "(Merrivale's) got a couple new additions as well, but I don't think we have to change the way we play. I think it will just be a good game and we both have to play well if we want to win."

Panmure host Merrivale from 1.45pm.