Michael Bordignon is one of the hardest players to beat, one-on-one, while Dylan Van Berlo started the year in reserve grade, but is working his way closer to his Victoria Country form of 2018.

"Obviously he struggled at the start of the year, but he's got his body right and it's good to have him back there, he's always taking intercept marks," Bordignon said of his team-mate.

"Especially when it's coming in deep and it's a long bomb in, you back him eight times out of 10 to take the mark."

Van Berlo was dogged by hamstring issues through 2017 and 2018, but catapulted into the Country team the second season, playing a vital role in the win over Vic Metro.

He then missed three months with a quad complaint in 2019.

When he's fit and in form, there's no better mark of the ball in defence than the 195cm Van Berlo..

At stages during his boom 2018, it looked like he couldn't miss, while at the other end Josh Porter was doing something similar.

Van Berlo missed the spectacular round three loss to Wangaratta Rovers, which has been the standout game of the season.

The Hawks stunned the pre-season premiership favorites, playing an exhilarating brand to grab a shock 14-point win.

"We just didn't turn up to play that day, really," Bordignon revealed.

"Their midfield is a well-drilled unit, through the guts really, if we can stop them there and off that half-back flank as well (that would go a long way to winning)."

Wangaratta has been granted a COVID exemption at its home games with 5000 patrons allowed.

The previous match attracted a bumper crowd of 3400 in ideal mid-April conditions and was decided by a piece of Jack Gerrish magic in the final minutes.

Rovers will be missing a handful of their profile multiple point players, including Ryan Hebron and Tyler Cornish due to COVID restrictions in Sydney and the Gold Coast respectively, but in Gerrish, Matt Jones and Co, the visitors still have enough talent to score an upset.

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However with siblings Jamie and Mark Anderson supporting Bordignon and Van Berlo, Rovers will need exciting full-forward Alex Marklew to produce a big performance.

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