A Cairns Saints training session has too often resembled a casualty ward over the past two months but ruckman Matt Hammond hopes the club's injury woes will disappear as September approaches.
The reigning AFL Cairns premiers are not the dominant force they were last season but still confirmed their finals spot for 2009 more than a month ago.
With two rounds of the regular season left, Saints’ biggest priority is making sure their first team is fit and firing.
Hammond, who missed a month of football earlier this season with a fractured collarbone, said Saints believed they were still a threat.
"It’s sort of been an injury-riddled year for us but we’re starting to get some numbers back on the track at last," the 21-year-old said.
"We’ve got a fair bit of finals experience in this team and if we can get everyone fit we’re confident of making a run towards the flag."
One of Saints’ biggest rivals for the premiership is the second-placed Centrals Trinity Beach, who they host tomorrow at Griffiths Park.
The sides have played twice this year already. Saints prevailed in a testing round-six encounter by 29 points before the Bulldogs bit back seven weeks later to win by the same margin.
Hammond, who has taken over the ruck spot vacated by Jeremy Watt in the off-season, said Saints needed to test themselves against the league’s best teams.
"Centrals and Souths have been the two top sides all year. We’ve beaten Centrals once and come close to Souths," he said.
"It will be good to know where we’re at because the bar tends to get raised this time of year.
"We had a good win against Centrals earlier this year before they knocked us off, so it will be interesting to see if there are any mind games out there.
"It’s our last home game of the season, so hopefully we can get some good support."
In other games tomorrow, last-start winners Port Douglas host ladder leaders Souths, while the Manunda Hawks and North Cairns do battle at Cazalys.
Last Modified on 21/08/2009 10:02