Myrtleford set to regain a host of key players for next clash after O and M bye

The Saints battled manfully without a quarter of their best side against Wangaratta Rovers on Saturday, pushing the fellow top three contenders until the final five minutes where a piece of Jack Gerrish' magic sealed the 17-point win.

"We should get a few back after the bye, Kurt Aylett, Elijah Wales, Brady Sharp, Taylor Hunt, those four should be right," co-coach Jake Sharp suggested.

The visitors did suffer another injury against the Hawks with Riley O'Shea damaging a calf.

Sharp is also hoping inspirational defender Nathan Laracy will return for the home game against Corowa-Rutherglen on May 29.

"He was hurt late in the game against Wodonga Raiders and played out the game, but the wing was a bit sore," he revealed.

"He's too much of a quality player to go through the season with one arm, so we took the option of not playing him today (against Rovers) with the bye coming up."

The O and M was originally set for interleague on Saturday, but it was cancelled for the second successive year due to COVID.

The Saints still have top three aspirations, but if results go as expected over the last two rounds leading up to the mid-point of the season, they will be two wins out of the double chance.

That's not insurmountable, but it would take an enormous effort to finish anywhere but an elimination final.

Still, Sharp was buoyed by the lift in intensity after half-time against the Hawks.

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"I thought that was a fantastic step forward in that sense, we really did step up in the third quarter, I think we controlled the quarter and played the game relatively on our terms," he suggested.

Sharp was also delighted with the form of Lachie Dale, who snared a match-high 37 disposals and also kicked half of the team's four goals.

"He's been massive, Lachie's moved to the midfield, so it's a different role, he's a premium player the way he finds the footy and his work rate is huge," he said.

"Once we get our midfield up and running, it will be a luxury to have multiple players in different positions."

Myrtleford struggled to break down Rovers' defence, led by Tyson Hartwig.

"I thought we stood up really well, particularly behind the footy, we wasted a bit of opportunity inside 50 again, which is a worry," co-coach Daryn Cresswell explained.

"Last week it was 52 to 32 inside 50s against (Wodonga) Raiders and we didn't hurt them."

Cresswell revealed after the game he was likely to remain as the Hawks' coach for next season after originally planning to return to Queensland.

He's shared the duties with Jamason Daniels this year, but work commitments in Shepparton haven't allowed him to attend all training sessions.

"'Jamo' was certainly a person we were thinking about (to coach in 2022), as well as a number of other people (should Daryn have left the club), but we want to give it our best shot to keep 'Crezza' on board," Hawks football operations manager Barry Sullivan said.

Meanwhile, Rovers Sam Murray produced his best game of the season after battling a hamstring complaint over the past five weeks.

"I dealt with the hamstring against North Albury and then spent time getting that right, there's more to win at the end of the year than early on and 'Crezza' (co-coach Daryn Cresswell) is really smart from that point of view, he's able to sit players out and has a really good list and backs them in," he offered.

Murray had a team-high 35 touches and was vital in defence, setting up a crucial second quarter goal against the breeze.

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