Hamblin says their last two practice matches have offered the improvement he needed to see after the Saints were towelled up by Wagga Tigers earlier this month.

North Wagga wrapped up their preparations with a game against Hume League club Osborne on Thursday night.

"We had first grade against first grade for the first half and it was really even. I couldn't tell you who was up at the end," Hamblin said.

Osborne ran away with the game after the main break when North Wagga fielded a virtual second grade side but Hamblin was comfortable with what his top side brought, upping their intensity after last Saturday's narrow loss to Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes. 

"I'm super happy with our pre-season," he said. "It was a bit of a slower start than we're used to and we got caught napping against Tigers. But it was a really good hit-out against Mango and then against Osborne so we'll go into round one with a lot of confidence."

Forwards Jed Winter and Dayne Hancock impressed against Osborne but a back injury to utility Troy Curtis against MCUE could place him in doubt for round one against Barellan. 

The Rock-Yerong Creek have also wrapped up their preparations against Hume League opposition.

Coach Tom Yates said he's excited about the start of the season despite going down to Culcairn by around three goals on Thursday. 

"We ended up going down by about 20 points I think but it was closer than what it sounds," Yates said. 

"We won a couple of quarters and the score didn't really resemble how good a hit-out it was. We were missing about 12 and Culcairn had about half-a-dozen really good players out but it was good. We've had two now and it was good to see a fair few of the new blokes and how they're going to go."

Former Northern Jet Jade Curtis had a second strong game while Yates was also pleased with Josh Hill and Mahlon Norbury. 

This time last year, the club was reeling with serious injuries to key players in the pre-season so Yates was rapt to report a clean slate so far.

"It's been good this pre-season. We got through unscathed and I'm just looking forward to round one," he said.

"We've got some good numbers this year which is something we haven't had for a while so it's pretty exciting."

Mitch Stephenson was one of last year's casualties. He is hopeful of returning from a knee reconstruction some time in the first half of the season.

While TRYC and North Wagga have wrapped up matches, preparations continue this weekend for other clubs.

At Temora on Saturday, the Kangaroos take on Queanbeyan Tigers' reserve grade as part of a three-way practice match extravaganza at Nixon Park.

Queanbeyan's senior side will take on Riverina League heavyweights Griffith. While the Kangaroos' seconds will take on the Swans' reserves. 

At Maher Oval, Charles Sturt University take on Turvey Park while at Gumly, East Wagga-Kooringal will play Canberra side Tuggeranong.

On Monday, reigning premiers Marrar have their first run of the pre-season, against Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong. That game is also at Gumly Oval with both the Bombers and Lions battling with dry home grounds.

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