Henty coach Heath Ohlin upbeat despite being ruled out for Lockhart clash by lockdown

The Swampie mentor, along with Dylon Simpson, Sam Scott, Beau Connell and Ben Carmichael are all ineligible to take on the side's nearest rival in the race for a finals spot, as they all reside in Victoria, but Ohlin has remained pragmatic.

However, it's not an unfamiliar position for Henty, with the same five senior players out for the identical reason just two weeks ago.

"It's something we never thought we'd have to deal with, but it's luck of the draw isn't it? We're in the same position. We're going to have four of our best players unavailable," Ohlin said.

"We trained Thursday night and had to rush home before eight o'clock to make sure we were back in time.

"We spoke to the playing group last night and put all the options out on the table as to whether we went ahead or stood the game out.

"The playing group was very much of the mentality of pushing on. We've got a mantra at Henty of 'we're all we got, we're all we need' and the players have taken that on board.

"No matter who lines up, we're going to take on the challenge against Lockhart and try to get the four points.

"You can't be looking around for loopholes in the rules, you've just got to say they're the rules and this is what we've got to do moving forward."

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Ohlin described the game as an elimination final with the winner likely to stay in sixth spot by season's end.

The lockdown proved costly for Henty a fortnight earlier when it lost to Jindera in miserable conditions without its Victorian-based stars.

James Ellis and Daniel Hore-Smith will coach the side again in Ohlin's absence.

"I'll do things on text and things like that, but it's a really good opportunity to see guys stand up when you're faced with challenges like this," Ohlin said.

"Especially in a game where whoever wins is going to get that finals spot, I'm really keen to see who in our group stands up and takes that challenge.

"It was sort of the great unknown in that Jindera game, and being such poor conditions, no-one really knew what was going on not having the Victorian players.

"I think second time around it's probably going to be easier in a sense because the guys are going to know what to expect.

"They've gone through that now and hopefully they'll be able to adapt quicker going into this game having gone through that previous experience."

The Demons were six-goal winners in the most recent meeting in round five, but Ohlin is confident his side is well prepared.

"If we can break even at the stoppages and make sure the pressure is good around the footy, we should be able to stop their supply and generate some good supply for ourselves going forward," he said.

"A few of the members will be messaging through updates as things go on and I'll have my fingers crossed the scoreline is in our favour."

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