Griffiths, who won the Ovens and Murray reserves best and fairest with Albury, is yet to debut for Rutherglen after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament in the lead-up to round one.

Cameron hasn’t played since round two when he fractured his elbow and damaged his meniscus in a brutal collision in the first quarter against Tallangatta, although he did play out the match and kick four goals.

Defender Steve Leatham, who has been sidelined with a badly corked leg, is also a strong chance to return to tackle one of the Hawks’ key forwards.

Rutherglen coach Karl Jacka said the Cats were looking forward to Griffiths, Cameron and Leatham returning but stressed “names in the paper won’t get the job done”.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” he said.

“This is a game that could really set our season up because we only play these guys once and with the competition being so tight, it’s really important.

“We dropped the game to the Thurgoona, which we were really disappointed with, but prior to that we had some good results against sides like Tallangatta and Barnawartha.”

Jacka said Martin Brennan, who played for the Tallangatta league against Ovens and King, would take his place in the Cats’ line-up after missing their round seven belting of Wodonga Saints with soreness.

Kiewa-Sandy Creek ruckman Luke Norton-Smith dominated when the sides met last year and looms as a key player again on Saturday.

The third-placed Hawks could regain boom forward Guy Telford (ankle) and Zac Mona (hamstring) for the match against the ladder-leading Cats.

Hawks coach Callum Turner said the pair would face fitness tests on Thursday night as they look to build on their six-match winning streak after an opening-round loss to Tallangatta.

“It’s a big game for us and we’re excited to see how we go against the yardstick of the competition at the moment,” he said.

“From what we’ve heard about Rutherglen, they’re big and strong.

“They’re strong through the midfield and really well coached with their running patterns so we’ve got to make sure we go with them in the midfield.

“We’re pretty happy with how we’ve been going, the blokes are starting to gel together”