‘‘Sammy Martyn’s been in good form for Benalla, so he’s an up-and-coming kid who is going to be a star down the track,’’ Ryan said.

‘‘We’ll get him in and get him the experience and he’s in contention if he’s getting that many touches at the weekend.

‘‘We had Simon Buckley pegged in since round one, but he’s had a few injury concerns, but he ran hard and covered the ground well on the weekend.

‘‘Tommy Sheldon has played (interleague) before and has nearly been Ky’s best the last two weeks and was outstanding again Saturday night and can kick the ball 60m.’’

Lions captain Brent Colbert (hamstring) is the only out from the selected squad, but Ryan said he expected to lose more players this weekend.

‘‘Everyone is still a chance. You can use 23 (players) if both leagues agree, but we’ll go with 22,’’ he said.

‘‘We lost 10 blokes on the last weekend last year with genuine injuries, but everyone is keen to play.

‘‘We’re, obviously, going to lose some this weekend — that’s just the way it goes — and it would be nice if we didn’t have Tat and United playing each other the week before the game.’’

Ryan said he and fellow selectors would watch all six of this week’s Goulburn Valley Football League matches before cutting the squad to about 26 for Wednesday’s final training session at Shepparton’s Deakin Reserve.

He said interleague regulars Paul Newman, Tim Looby, Daniel Lewis and Dan Lovick, who has won the Geelong league’s past two Mathieson medals, were certain starters if fit.

Defenders Tom Miller and Andrew Riordan, of Tatura and Shepparton Swans, respectively, were present, but did not train due to minor niggles.

Among those not there were Mooroopna’s Mark Blake, Mansfield’s Josh Fraser, Shepparton United’s Jason Eagle, Rochester’s Grant Weeks and Seymour’s Paul Colbert.