Wangaratta Rovers' defender Tyson Hartwig battling back injury

Hartwig, who turns 34 on April 21, was a spectator at the club's thrilling three-point loss to Myrtleford in last Saturday's season-opening round.

He was clearly inconvenienced while hobbling around.

"I pulled up sore after a gym session," he revealed.

"With a disc injury like this, sometimes a cortisone epidural can be beneficial, where they pop a needle into the disc space and try and let the cortisone do its work."

Hartwig had his second cortisone on Monday after the first failed to work.

"We had some improvement from that pretty quickly on Tuesday, but I think that's an initial improvement that sometimes does happen," he offered.

Generally, the loss of the former Victoria Country defender would have been an enormous blow for the Hawks, but they were lucky in that boom VFL defender Nathan Cooper was able to play as Werribee had the round two bye.

And Cooper was sensational, keeping Saints' spearhead Ryley Sharp goalless and clocking up 14 disposals himself.

However, Werribee is home to Southport on Saturday night.

Hartwig has shown an ability though to recover quickly from injury after damaging his ankle against Wangaratta last season and yet making a quick return to face Lavington.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Rovers are away to Wangaratta under lights on Saturday.

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