Michael Newton (calf) and Kris Zane (knee) failed to see out the match as the Hawks stormed home with a six-goal-to-one final quarter to win 12.9 (81) to 8.10 (58).

Rugged on-baller Matt Kelly was a late withdrawal from the match with hamstring tightness and faces a fight to be fit to play North Albury in round six.

Newton left the field in the opening minutes and could spend up to a month on the sidelines, putting him in doubt for the Ovens and Murray’s interleague clash against Hampden on May 21.

Play was suspended for five minutes early in the last term as Zane was stretchered from the field and later taken to hospital in an ambulance.

Zane’s injury proved a turning point for the Magpies, who had worked their way to an eight-point lead after trailing for much of the first half.

Wangaratta coach Brendan Cairns refused to blame injuries for the defeat, saying Rovers had simply “out-hunted” the Magpies.

“I didn’t think having no rotations in the last quarter hurt us, I think in the first, second and last quarters Rovers outplayed us,” he said.

“Probably in the third quarter we got on top but outside of that, Rovers were the better team for the day.”

Ryan Cobain was superb in attack for the Hawks, kicking two final-quarter goals on his way to a bag of five, while ruckman and captain Shane Gaston led from the front to be best on ground.

Rovers co-coach Sam Carpenter was thrilled with the way his side responded to the Magpies’ second-half challenge.

“It was a really tough battle from the word go,” he said.

“The big message from me and Andy (Hill) was to not drop that pressure off, we knew we had to raise the bar with that intensity and attack on the footy and I thought the boys really held up in that area.

“I don’t think we had any lapses … I think for 120 minutes we really attacked the contest well.

“People will say we’re pretty young and inexperienced but if we play footy like that, we’re going to be hard to beat.”

Isaac Willett and Will Nolan impressed in their first games for the Hawks.

Dread-locked Nolan stood up in the final quarter, kicking a team-lifting goal at the 10-minute mark to put the Rovers back in front.

It was a lead the Hawks never relinquished as they moved to 3-2 ahead of a round six clash with Corowa-Rutherglen.