A 16-point loss to Temora last Saturday has the Saints winless and on the bottom of the Farrer League ladder after three rounds.

Winter admitted the pressure was starting to build at McPherson Oval but at the same time, he's confident it will pass.

"It probably does a little bit now, 0-3, but in saying that, I've spoken to the boys and all the boys are super confident in what they're doing," Winter said.

"I think it will come, it's just a matter of doing it for four quarters."

The tasks don't get any easier for North Wagga, who will host the undefeated Hawks at McPherson Oval on Saturday.

EWK drew against Marrar in round one before comfortably accounting for Temora. They've since had a couple of byes so will come in fresh.

Winter insists it's far from a bad time for the derby against the Hawks.

"I don't think there is ever a bad time," he said.

"It's a really good game to be apart of. Obviously they're travelling along pretty good, a draw, a win and then coming off a two-week bye so I'm not sure how that will affect them. They're a pretty mature side so I'm sure they'll be fine with that.

"Everyone at North Wagga loves playing in these games and everyone is pretty excited to be apart of it."

North Wagga will welcome back Kane Flack from an ankle injury, as well as Jack Flood and Bailey Clark.

Unfortunately, Lachie Robertson goes out of the team with a chipped bone in his elbow. The Saints hope he will only miss a fortnight.

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With Lachlan Johnson still sidelined, it leaves the Saints a little undersized in defence but with wet weather forecast, that might not prove to be too big of an issue.

Winter is instead concentrating on getting the Saints to produce their best football for longer periods.

"We know our best is good enough to beat anyone on the day, we just have to do it on the day and for four quarters," he said.

"We've probably played throughout the three games, six good quarters of footy and that won't win you many games."

Having kicked 5.16, 11.5 and 7.14 across the opening three rounds, Winter would also like to see the Saints improve their accuracy.

"In the second half (last week) I thought we got right on top but we just couldn't convert that to the scoreboard," he said.

"Obviously wayward kicking let us down there but bad kicking is bad football so we were playing bad footy, it's as simple as that.

"We were really disappointed with 0-3 because we feel like we're a lot better positioned and playing a lot better footy than we were last year, we just can't get a win on the board at the moment."

East Wagga-Kooringal will be boosted by the return of Nico Sedgwick for Saturday's game.

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