Despite sitting second on the ladder, Neil said the Swans and Bushrangers were the two in-form sides with one round remaining before finals.

The Hawks are set to meet the Bushrangers in the Qualifying final in the first week of the finals series at Sandy Creek.

"On exposed form, it's a battle between Chiltern and Beechworth for flag favouritism for sure," Neil said.

"I don't think we are at the same level as those two sides and they have both got all the firepower needed to win the flag.

"It's going to be a hard challenge beating either of those two sides.

"Undoubtedly they are the two in-form sides who in my opinion have better lists and the most amount of high-profile players.

"Don't get me wrong - we feel we are in the mix with them but they are both playing really good footy at the minute."

The Hawks have been sitting on top of the ladder for most of the season but a late season stagger has seen the powerhouse miss out on the minor premiership.

The alarm bells were ringing in round 14 after they struggled to overcome Rutherglen before losing consecutive matches against Chiltern and Beechworth.

The Hawks were also fortunate to escape with the four points against sixth-placed Yackandandah last weekend.

Neil conceded the Hawks had been far from their best over the past month.

"Our form, it's not where we want it," he said.

"We just have had a lot of inconsistency with our group playing together.

"We are starting to get more of our group back training and that, so the form should come.

"We are certainly in good training form which should translate into our performances on the ground soon enough.

"We have been in a bit of a form lapse the past month or so but I think some of the signs I saw today (Saturday) and some of those key indicators, we have turned the corner.

"There were better patches of football for longer.

"So we are building nicely."

ALSO IN SPORT

Beechworth chose to take a swipe at the Hawks in The Critic over the weekend after there were several scuffles between the two sides the previous week.

"Condition were good and we relished them whilst Kiewa were more interested in being flat track bullies with a few acts of thuggery," the club wrote.

"Our boys were undeterred though and surged ahead keeping the visitors to an overall total of less than Wahgunyah.

"We look forward to meeting them in a few weeks at Sandy Creek."

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