The Hawks have been aware of the plans for some time and Cresswell says the players are also on board with the decision.

"I'll probably miss four or five, I wouldn't have thought any more than that," he revealed after the club's thumping 58-point away win over Lavington on Saturday night.

"Obviously Jake's playing at South Adelaide and Josh is playing APS (Associated Public Schools of Victoria) for Wesley College.

"(Former Richmond and Port Adelaide player and Wangaratta-raised product) Chris Naish is on board and Josh will run the show when I'm away, we've got a really good balance with our coaching group.

"Obviously I want to go watch my boys play, the club's been very understanding and the players are aware of that and what games they're going to be, we'll sort that out, the APS starts next week, but I won't miss the 'Yarra' game."

Rovers host the Pigeons on Saturday with both clubs set to challenge for a top three finish.

The Sydney Swans' Team of the Century member has made an enormous impact since joining the league with Wodonga Raiders in 2015, guiding them back from the wilderness to finals every year.

He took over Rovers after they collected a winless wooden spoon in 2018 and while they missed finals the next year, he led the Hawks to last year's third placing before Covid struck.

Cresswell has a host of outstanding attributes and one of those is his attention to detail, so he will be montoring the draw to see where it best fits to have a match off.

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As sad as it sounds, battling North Albury is the obvious candidate with the Hawks facing them in round eight and 17, although that will naturally have to correlate with his sons' playing commitments, while there's four byes as well.

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