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From Ballarat Courier

NORTH Ballarat coach Gerard FitzGerald is confident the Roosters can get back into winning form against Casey Scorpions in the Victorian Football League at AUSTAR Arena in Ballarat today.

But he also felt the same going into the Williamstown encounter six days ago and the Selkirk Roosters suffered a caning.

They let themselves down badly.

There had a been massive build-up to the previous assignment, when the Roosters had inflicted reigning premier Sandringham with its first defeat of the year.

And as it turned out they could not cope with the same type of pressure two weeks running.

This has been an issue for North Ballarat most of the season with it being unable to win two matches in a row.

Now it runs into the Scorpions, which appear to have turned the corner.

After being on the end of four consecutive losses, Casey turned around its fortunes with a 24-point victory over Port Melbourne - a team rated highly by North Ballarat.

So there is no respite, especially with Casey lining up with St Kilda's Raphael Clarke and Andrew Thompson.

Positively for the Roosters, Steve Clifton (foot) and Ben Taylor (ankle) passed fitness tests last night to confirm their returns to the line-up for what shapes as a season-defining match as each team battles to get into the top eight.

Justin Hardy also returns for North Ballarat to provide another "big" option along with other inclusions Callum Urch (hamstring) and Matt Sharkey (foot).

Missing from the combination which struggled to get near the football at Williamstown are Blake Grima (hamstring), David Trotter (hamstring), Eddie Sansbury (Kangaroos), Jake Dignan (elbow) and Leigh Ryall.

Jacob Spolding remains on the sidelines with a corked thigh.

FitzGerald has a much bigger outfit at his disposal than has been the case in the past few rounds and he will be desperate to get more out of the likes of Orren Stephenson to complement the return of noted goalkicker Callum Urch.

Just how North Ballarat does might largely depend on the mental approach of its players.

They have shown they can be as good as anyone in the VFL, but they need to start producing it week-in week-out.

This is starting to sound like a scratched record repeating itself over and over.

But that is where the Roosters are at.