The 27-year-old former Lavington player hadn't pulled on the boots for three years when he received a call from newly-appointed Roos coach Hunter Clayton.

Volkov, who works at Back on Track Physiotherapy in Albury, was helping St Patrick's Cricket Club with their physio work at the time but jumped at the chance to park his day job on the weekend and get back to country footy.

"I didn't do any of the pre-season because I was always at the cricket club," he said.

"One of my stipulations to Hunter was that if I played, I wouldn't do the physio work for Tumba, I just wanted to play.

"I did Lavi's physio work last year and all their injury management, so I said 'if I come to Tumba, I don't want to do the strapping.'

"But week one, I rocked up to the game and he called me and said 'can you just strap an ankle for me?'

"About an hour later, I'd missed the warm-up for the game, finished strapping the whole team and walked straight onto the field.

"Fifteen weeks later, I think I've done it most weeks."

Clayton hailed Volkov's willingness to pinch in as a perfect example of the spirit which has served Tumbarumba so well in the Upper Murray league this year.

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"Being the sort of guy he is, he stepped straight up, with no worries, no issues and wanted to help the boys," Clayton said.

"Unfortunately, he's been stitched up every week since.

"It's so important to have those blokes.

"Mitchell Palmer's come back from Lavington to play with us and without question, he'll drive to training on a Tuesday night if he gets off early and do whatever he can just to help the club.

"Everyone's got that 'one team, one dream' mentality, no-one's up there for the money or anything like that."

Tumbarumba clinched the minor premiership with midfielder Volkov playing a key role on and off the field.

"The senior boys roll in to get strapped just before Hunter's speech and he's the worst of them, I reckon," Volkov said.

"He comes in and he's like 'I need both shoulders and both ankles done.' Between the Clayton brothers, they probably use half of Tumba's funds.

"Connor's the worst, he thinks he's a little bit taller than he really is so he gets everything strapped. He has to let everyone know about that."

Bullioh hosts the first semi-final on Saturday, with Federal playing Bullioh in both the senior football and A-grade netball.

"Finals will be intense," Volkov said.

"We're definitely beatable but we're as good as the rest of them with a full team on the park.

"I have absolutely loved this year."

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