Boosted by the return of 2015 premiers Matt Ward, Joe Crowder and Chris Sweeney, the Jaguars are tipped to improve on last season’s lowly showing.

Merrigan paid tribute to his side’s dedication on the training paddock and believes they can shake up the Pascoe Cup competition.

“Everyone’s pretty keen to get stuck in this year,” Merrigan said.

“Our preseason kind of fizzled out a little bit but we’ve been getting good numbers to training and everyone’s starting to get their fitness up.”

Junee brushed out the cobwebs with a preseason trial against Temora but were disappointed to miss out on another hit-out against Yass.

“We had a good run against Temora but we were definitely after some stronger opposition,” Merrigan said.

They’ll certainly find it against a Wagga United side bolstered by the addition of former Junee skipper Lincoln Weir.

Fresh from a full preseason with United, Weir is relishing the captaincy at his new club under coach and brother Travis Weir.

“We’re looking really good, great even,” he said.

“It feels like a whole new squad and we’ve just been putting all the pieces together.”

The midfield appears United’s key area of growth but the skipper was loathe to reveal further details ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

“We’ve got a few guys in the middle who are looking really strong, but we’ll just see how this weekend goes,” he said.

As Junee’s top goal-scorer in 2017, Weir is under no illusions about the target on his back.

“I’m a little nervous to play against Junee, to be honest, but I’m also really excited. It’ll be a bit of fun out there against the old side,” he said.

Merrigan was similarly enthusiastic about taking on his former skipper. 

“We’ll give it to him a bit on the field but we’re still good mates,” he said.

“I’m sure we’ll grab a beer after it all.”

The Jaguars will look to youngster Brody Longmore and veteran Ward for early go-forward against United, the latter tipped to make a particular impact.

“We’re really excited to have Wardy back, he’s terrific up front,” Merrigan said.

“Brody’s another who’s got some serious talent so we’ll see how he goes.

“At the end of the day though, we’ll just be looking to play as a team and focus on building that.”

The game kicks off 3pm at Duke of Kent Oval in Wagga on Sunday, April 8.