In a unique set of circumstances the Tigers had two byes in-a-row followed by a further fortnight on the sidelines due to COVID restrictions.

It means it will have been 35 days since the undefeated Tigers last played when they host Myrtleford on Saturday.

Miles said the club had prepared for the heavyweight clash as best they could including staging an intra-club hitout two weekends ago.

"The first week after the bye we gave the boys a week off to freshen-up more mentally than anything," Miles said.

"Then once the Melbourne lockdown hit we were faced with a couple of extra weeks and more or less did another mini pre-season to keep the fitness levels up.

"We were fortunate to be able to play in an intra-club where we played four 15-minute quarters.

"But this week has been business as usual and preparing for Myrtleford."

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Miles said it would be inevitable that players would have lost match fitness.

"It's probably a bit like round one each season," he said.

"You can train as hard as you like but that first 15-minutes you start playing again you are blowing fairly hard.

"But I think players will be able to regain their match fitness fairly quickly after only having a month off.

"Tactically on the weekend we might have to readjust slightly and have more rotations through the midfield with players spending less time playing on the ball."

Some of the gloss has been taken off the highly-anticipated clash with Melbourne based players banned from travelling to regional areas.

The Saints have been one of the hardest hit by the government restriction with at least seven players from their best 22 to miss on Saturday.

Taylor Hunt, Matt Munro, Kurt Aylett, Matt Dussin, Elijah Wales, Riley O'Shea and Jarryd Wallace are just some of the Saints who will be absent.

The Tigers will be without star midfielder Daniel Cross alongside Dean Heta.

Kieran Elllis was also residing in Melbourne earlier in the year before relocating back to the Border last month.

Miles said he wouldn't be treating the Saints lightly who are in desperate need of a big scalp to remain in top-three contention.

"Luke (Daly) and I spoke to the players at training on Tuesday night," he said.

"The message to the group was that the process doesn't change and we treat each opposition exactly the same.

"We are preparing to play Myrtleford as if they were at full-strength.

"I'm fairly good mates with Taylor Hunt and was looking forward to playing against him."

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