The Scarlets have once again been forced to put fly-half Rhys Priestland at full-back while Ceiron Thomas finds himself on the wing due to the shortage of fit back-three players in the squad.
Despite the Scarlets failing to fire in Europe this season, Maling said the players are confident of giving the in-form Blues a run for their money.
"Hopefully we can go out there and give it a real rip," said for the Kiwi second row. "I've been out of action for a while with a calf injury and upon reflection I probably tried to come back too soon out in Paris (against Stade Francais) but we were a man down. But hopefully we can go out there and get a win on board.
"I've played in a few derbies back home in my time but I'm really looking forward to lacing the boots up and playing against the Blues. The boys are confident of putting in a good showing so hopefully we can kick off the period with a win to kick-start our season."
Scarlets: 1 Phil John, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Deacon Manu, 4 Vernon Cooper, 5 Simon Maling, 6 Simon Easterby (captain), 7 Dafydd Jones, 8 David Lyons, 9 Martin Roberts, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Jonathan Davies, 13 Regan King, 14 Ceiron Thomas, 15 Rhys Priestland
Replacements: 16 Craig Cross, 17 Ken Owens, 18 Lou Reed, 19 Dominic Day, 20 Johnathan Edwards, 21 Gavin Cattle, 22 Lee Williams,
