FALLING one hurdle short of making last season's grand final, Saints Michaels coach Jordan Lawrence is looking to do one better this season.

The Saints lost to premier Wagga City in the preliminary final and after escaping the off-season with very little change of personnel, Lawrence can't see why the club won't be battling the best again in the 2014-15.

Dan Baker is the only confirmed loss from last year's side, with the club bringing in Josh Purtell and Chase Grintell.

"We've kept most of our players which is a pretty good thing and we've only really added to our squad so I think we can only improve on what we did last year," Lawrence said.

"Last year we set ourselves a goal to make the top four, which we achieved, and we believe with the squad we had we could have gone all the way and this year we are looking to replicate last year.

"Our goal is to make the top four again and the prelim final as a minimum, but we know its going to be a tough competition."

Saint Michaels will get an early indication of where they are at taking on grand finalist South Wagga in the opening round of the competition.

Without captain James Elliott, Tom Byrnes and Nick McCormack to start the season Saints will be just shy of being full strength tomorrow.

Despite the missing names, Lawrence is confident the team will be strong enough to push the Blues.

"They've got three out of our full squad, but in saying that the guys coming are more than capable of stepping up to the job," he said.

"We've got a fairly deep squad we can choose from so we are pretty lucky like that and I'm more than confident, even though we've got a few out.

"We have 14 or 15 guys that are able to push everyone and make people perform for spots, so we are pretty lucky like that."

The two teams met in the first round of the competition last year, and it was the only time in three meetings Saints were able to come away with a win.

Lawrence believes his team doesn't shape up well against the Blues, but believes the loss of Mick Mattingly wil have a big impact on South Wagga.

"It's a pretty devastating loss for them, he's their top order bat and one of the premier bowlers on the competition," Lawrence said.

"But in saying that South Wagga always find some to fill the void, are always strong, so it definitely won't be easy by any means."