Rested Rovers to take on Saints

“I know there have been a few sore bodies after a pretty solid block of games, so the bye was a great opportunity to freshen up,” coach Alex Hay said.

“I encouraged the boys to get some work in, but also just to switch off footy for a while.

“After a long pre-season I've tried to emphasise getting the work done when you can, but also to make sure that we're looking after ourselves.

“We had a really good session on Tuesday and we’re looking sharp, but we are very conscious of Berrigan who are really strong at home.

“We won't be taking any liberties with our preparation.”

Ins for Rovers will include Hayden Barker, Peter Lewis, Brendan Hope.

Before the bye, the Rovers had a convincing win against Yarroweyah - 27.17 (179) to 6.8 (44) - but Hay said the Hoppers put up a fight against the Roos which highlighted where skills needed to improve.

“Yarroweyah really challenged our work around the contest at the start of the game, and probably controlled that in the first quarter,” he said.

“It was disappointing because it's been one of our strengths throughout the year so far.

“We had also been working a lot on tempo and dictating the speed of play, which took us a while to get a handle on.

“We'll focus heavily on those areas to get them right, especially at the start of the game.

“Our second half was really good and over the month of games we've been able to overrun teams.

“It is pleasing, but I'd like to get to our style earlier to make the most of those opportunities later in the game.”