With North Albury and Wangaratta Rovers at Black Caviar odds to face off in this year’s elimination final, most of the interest in their weekend showdown at Bunton Park centred around what could be found out just 29 days from their next — and more important — meeting.

And plenty, other than a gritty 19-point win to the Hawks, was revealed in the wet.

The Hawks will go into that final as favourites, surely, having now beaten the Hoppers in their past four meetings.

Rovers’ defence is still water-tight under the guidance of captain Tyson Hartwig and its midfield more than capable with the likes of Sam Caruso and Sam Carpenter winning more than 50 possessions between them on the day.

The Hawks’ forward line is far more dangerous than what most would have you believe, too.

They boast two seriously talented teenagers, with livewire Alex Marklew (three goals) and Cody Schutt (34 possessions and 10 tackles) both playing starring roles in Saturday’s triumph.

And with Jamie Sheahan and Toby Ryan still to return, the Hawks have plenty of upside.

But most importantly, what did their coach learn after Saturday’s victory?

“That’s a very tough question,” Mick Caruso said.

“I think what I learned was that we’ve certainly got the match-ups to go with North Albury.

“The other thing I learned is that we can get better and a little bit more potent in the forward line and midfield.

“Particularly when Jamie and Toby come back.

“The other thing I learned was that we’ve got some really good young players who lead by example and are very hard to match up on.

“I was pleased with most of our performance but there’s lots of areas we can still improve in.”

The Hoppers, meanwhile, clearly have plenty of work do.

They’ve lost four of their past five games and haven’t put in a performance of note since they routed Myrtleford by 10 goals in June.

The reliable crew are still producing, but the spark they had early in the season has undoubtedly dimmed.

And their coach, Jason Akermanis, knows it.

“We’ve got some good players that are playing nowhere near their ability and there’s too many excuses,” Akermanis said.

“There were a lot of boys who, I’ve got to use the word, were complete crap.

“They know who they are, and there’s a few of them.

“If they don’t want to come play football with that much talent, then I don’t know what else I can do as a coach. We can’t do everything.”

The Hawks burst out of the blocks, with Joel Coombes clunking five marks inside 50 in the first quarter of the game.

He slotted home four first-half majors and had a more than effective foil in Marklew, who booted three special goals.

At just 17, Marklew must have AFL clubs sniffing.

The Hawks won the game in the period Marklew made his own, with Caruso’s side ramming home six-straight goals leading into half-time.

In slippery conditions, the Hoppers were always going to find that hard to recover.

But they tried admirably, scraping back the deficit with the only two majors of an uninspiring third term before kicking the first goal of the last.

The Hawks’ comfy 35-point half-time buffer had been slashed to 13 points.

With Jason Gram, Matt McDonald and Akermanis beginning to run riot, the Hoppers’ intensity lifted and an upset was on the cards.

But Gram, who was not tagged by the Hawks, trapped himself laying a tackle and took no further part in the game.

Karl Norman kicked a goal moments later and that was it.

“It was great to have a win here,” Caruso said.

“It’s not a happy hunting ground for us.

“I remember back in the late 1980s and early 1990s we used to come up here and go back with our tails between our legs.

“Our second quarter was probably the best quarter we’ve played this year.

“Our theme for this game was about accountability and it certainly paid dividends.”