Jordan and Josh Arnold to do battle in Tasmania v Queensland rep game

Josh Arnold is playing for Tasmania, while his brother Jordan is donning Queensland's kit, having played football up there for the last five years.

It will be the first time the two have played against each other, with Josh - who coaches TSL side Glenorchy - saying "the football world's eyes are on Tasmania".

RELATED: Jordan Cousens earns 'best in Tasmania' moniker from Rocherlea coach

"We get a lot of flack that the state's footy probably isn't up to standard," he said.

"I feel and we've spoken about this a group, that we've got a real opportunity to show the rest of Australia and the footy community what Tasmania has to offer and that we're not just the baby brother to the big island.

"We are here to stay and obviously put our best foot forward and we've got a great opportunity to play some hard physical footy and show what we're about."

Jordan is one of four ex-Tasmanian players in the team alongside Adrian Williams, Brandon Batchelor and Jordan Hayden, but doesn't have mixed feelings about playing against his old state.

"I'm just happy to be playing for Queensland to be honest," he said.

"I've been there for the last five years and circled it on the calendar as soon as that came up, so I'm super excited to run out."

Both Mav Weller and Leigh Harding agreed that Saturday's representative contest is going to come down to a battle of the midfields.

The two former AFL players - Weller 123 games for Gold Coast, St Kilda and Richmond and Harding 141 for North Melbourne - are hoping their side wins the clearance duel.

"The ground shows that whenever footy is played here it's a big clearance battle, contest, tackles that sort of thing," Weller said.

"So I think the side that comes out on top in the clearances should be pretty close to winning the game."

RELATED: Tasmanian representative coach Mav Weller talks selection, plans

Harding added: "The contest stuff, clearance stuff will be really important as we get that territory run going early.

"Hopefully we can get the game on our terms for a period of time and cash in when we do."

The former Kangaroo noted Tasmania's dangerous forward line - muttering "where do I start?" when asked who could affect the game.

"All of the forward line looks dangerous - [Jake] Hinds, [Brad] Cox-Goodyer, [Sam] Siggins potentially will go down there but his ruck work is also very, very good.

"[Jack] Tomkinson spent some time in Queensland as well ... so they have a few people in their forward line that are strong."

Weller also heaped praise on Cox-Goodyer, who was named captain of the side earlier this week.

"He's a game-winner, he influences games with his kicking ability and his toughness," Weller said.

"He leads the right way, he's well liked among our group and he's looking forward to it, he said he hasn't felt this excited about a game for a while."

Tasmanian coach Deb Reynolds noted the hype of the build up to the contest against Queensland but is wary of her side getting overwhelmed by it.

As her side plays in the state's first women's representative match since 2016, Reynolds wants them to just enjoy it.

"I think that with everything that you do, if you have a level of enjoyment, it brings out the best in you anyway.

"I think sometimes if you harness [the emotion] too much, you can actually create an anxiety that's uncontrollable so there'll be discussion around that but at the same point, they'll go out there with intent, knowing that they need to enjoy themselves to get the best out of themselves."

RELATED: Tasmania Zoo's Jenna Griffiths aiming for AFLW attention in rep game

Clarence's Jacinta Limbrick is captaining the team, with Reynolds looking towards her, Scottsdale's Dearne Taylor and Gold Coast Suns AFLW player Claire Ransom to lead from the front.

In the Queensland camp, coach Emma Zielke said her side has a mixture of outside midfielders and contested beasts but described the latter as the team's "one-wood".

She gave the rundown on a few players to look out for.

"I'm probably going to have to give a shout out to our captain Steph O'Brien," she said.

"She's probably been the best player in our comp for the last couple of years without getting any of the accolades but she's going to be strong for us up front.

"If we aren't doing it well at the source, we can throw her in there and she's just a bull of a person and she can take great marks overhead.

"With our ball-winners, we've got our vice-captain in Carly Ramos. She's another one that's in really good form. She'll win her own footy but she's got speed to get on the outside as well."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: