North Wagga coach Cayden Winter hopes to return from a hamstring concern in time to face East Wagga-Kooringal

Winter sat out last Saturday's 35-point win over Temora after enduring some hamstring tightness in the loss to Marrar the week before.

He was one of a number of omissions for the Temora game and is the best chance of all the injured Saints of returning to meet their cross-town rivals at Gumly Oval on Saturday.

"It's just a bit of hamstring tightness," Winter said.

"I'm hoping to be back this week. It should be right."

Winter is a massive part of the Saints' midfield and his availability will be pivotal to the Saints' chances of beating the Hawks for a second time this season.

North Wagga got their season started with a four-point win over EWK back in round four, with Winter one of the Saints' best.

One player they won't have on Saturday is ruckman Matt Parks, but the outlook is a little brighter after initially fearing he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the loss to Marrar.

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Parks still has not had confirmation of the extent of the injury but Winter explained the outlook is better than first thought.

"We don't think he's done his ACL," Winter said.

"We've just got to wait to get him in for some scans next week and we'll have to go from there.

"Until then we won't really know too much but I'm hoping he'll be right in a few weeks. It's getting better."

Winter rated Corey Watt as a 50-50 chance to return from an ankle injury that has kept him out of the past two games.

"He's 50-50. They're just trying to work out whether there is a fracture or not," he said.

Dylan McDermott has suffered another injury setback, sustaining a broken collarbone in the win over Northern Jets last month but will get back for the Saints' finals campaign.

"Six weeks they said, maximum, so we'll get him back late," Winter said.

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