The stand-alone Dolphins (10th), fielding few stars and only one player with AFL experience - former Saint Chris Oliver - have defied the odds so far this season by being highly competitive.

But after recently losing boom recruit Damien Adkins (from West Coast) for the season following ankle surgery, coach Brett Lovett now has to deal with the loss of his main ruckman Ashley Eames for two months with a broken leg.

"He will be six weeks in plaster and then do the rehab," Lovett said.

"We have Daniel Clark to ruck and also Oliver who is more key position.

"Eames is a big loss but Clark is a seasoned player and given the opportunity he has shown he can make a big impact. He is very wily at centre bounces and around the ground."

The Dolphins have also had to replace last season's 100-goal forward Aaron Edwards and have relied mainly on clever small and medium-sized forwards such as Jason Berry, Ricky Morris and Tory Dickson for much of their scoring power this year.

From Ballarat Courier

NORTH Ballarat coach Gerard FitzGerald is confident the Roosters can get back into winning form against Casey Scorpions in the Victorian Football League at AUSTAR Arena in Ballarat today.

But he also felt the same going into the Williamstown encounter six days ago and the Selkirk Roosters suffered a caning.

They let themselves down badly.

There had a been massive build-up to the previous assignment, when the Roosters had inflicted reigning premier Sandringham with its first defeat of the year.

And as it turned out they could not cope with the same type of pressure two weeks running.

This has been an issue for North Ballarat most of the season with it being unable to win two matches in a row.

Now it runs into the Scorpions, which appear to have turned the corner.

After being on the end of four consecutive losses, Casey turned around its fortunes with a 24-point victory over Port Melbourne - a team rated highly by North Ballarat.

So there is no respite, especially with Casey lining up with St Kilda's Raphael Clarke and Andrew Thompson.

Positively for the Roosters, Steve Clifton (foot) and Ben Taylor (ankle) passed fitness tests last night to confirm their returns to the line-up for what shapes as a season-defining match as each team battles to get into the top eight.

Devils assistant coach Andrew Mellor, standing in for coach Daryn Cresswell who was attending a family funeral, said young Launceston ruckman Nathan O'Donoghue would make his Devils debut against Geelong on Sunday as speculation continues to mount the "semi-marriage" will finish at the end of this season.

"I think it is the first time this year we will have someone starting in the ruck who is not a Kangaroo-listed player because we have used (Brad) Moran, (Todd) Goldstein and (David) Hale," Mellor said.

"To have a Tasmanian carrying the No.1 ruck duties is a real plus because the future is unknown.

"He was outstanding last week in the state game. He is very fit, he's tall and can jump and Geelong has got a few players like that so he'll be a real plus for us. "

Mellor said fellow big men, Northern Bombers' Tom Bellchambers and Launceston's Tim Mohr, could also be in the running for promotion to gain experience for next season.

Sharkey has not played since foot surgery pre-season.

The 2006 VFL Team of the Year member had a bone graft and pin inserted to repair a stress fracture in his left foot.

The defender initially dismissed the injury, but was shocked to learn he had a fracture on the outside of the foot.

The Selkirk Roosters originally hoped Sharkey would miss no more than six matches, but he has returned with them on four wins and five losses, outside the top eight in ninth position, and in desperate

need of a victory over the St Kilda-aligned Scorpions after losing to Williamstown by 40 points.

Sharkey has been named on a half-back flank after proving his match fitness in two appearances in the reserves.

The 21-year-old established himself as one of the best in the VFL last year, playing in all North Ballarat's 20 matches, including two finals.

Sharkey and the Kangaroos-listed Callum Urch are pivotal inclusions for the Roosters.

Urch has not played in the seniors since straining a hamstring in round two.

He lasted only a couple of minutes in that match against Coburg Tigers and has missed seven games. He got through 70 per cent of a VFL reserves match on Sunday.

The possible return to the Essendon senior side of Ramanauskas has been a talking point this week, but the man himself is content to bide his time in the VFL with Bendigo.

Ramanauskas has made an inspirational return to football this year as an Essendon rookie after enduring a recurrence of cancer in his neck and a serious knee injury in the past two years.

The 26-year-old member of Essendon's 2000 premiership side has played five games with Bendigo this season, and is relishing the chance to just be back out on the football field, even if it's at the Queen Elizabeth Oval, rather than the MCG or Telstra Dome.

'‘It's just enjoyable playing footy again, to be honest," Ramanauskas told The Advertiser yesterday.

‘‘Things are going along okay; I'm just trying to do my part and not let down the younger fellows.

‘‘Being one of the older guys, I have to show a bit of experience out there and try to help them out as much as I can.

‘‘At the same time, I'm competitive like everyone else and I want to win.

It will be Lonergan's comeback match after life-saving surgery last year to remove a kidney destroyed in a courageous marking attempt against Melbourne in round 21.

Now the Devils coach, Cresswell, a former assistant coach at Geelong, was mentor to Lonergan when he arrived at the "Cattery".

Lonergan, a 23-year-old forward who has played just seven senior games, will wear a custom-made back guard to protect his remaining kidney.

"It will give me the confidence to back into the packs," Lonergan said yesterday.

"It's pretty thick and hard, so I don't think the same thing will be able to happen."

The Cat should expect no favours from the hard-hitting Tasmanians, renowned for their hard tackling.

THE Tassie Devils would take a couple of years to be fully competitive if it joined the SANFL in 2009, AFL-Tasmania general manager Scott Wade said.

AFL-Tasmania - which lost to developing Aussie Rules state Queensland by 11 points on Saturday - is investigating its long-term future which might lead to becoming the 10th SANFL club.

Tasmania had 16 Devils players in the team that lost to Queensland but no AFL-listed players.

Seated among the top-five VFL clubs in 2004-05, the Devils have one win and sit bottom of the VFL ladder this year.

Aligned with the AFL Kangaroos, the Devils are obliged to play over-flow Roos players and have not recruited star players from outside Tasmania in the past few seasons.

Tasmania upset the SANFL by 15 points in 1995. West Adelaide, bottom in the SANFL, lost by seven points to Tasmania in a trail in March.

TOM Lonergan will complete his courageous comeback when he runs out with Geelong's VFL team on Sunday.

The 23-year-old was yesterday given the final all-clear from Cats' medicos after a life-threatening injury late last season.

Lonergan was playing just his seventh senior game against Melbourne in round 21 when he backed into a pack, resulting in internal bleeding and the eventual removal of a kidney.

He spent five days in an induced coma and lost 16kg, before making the decision to play on. He was delisted by the club at the end of last season but re-drafted as a rookie.

Coach Mark Thompson yesterday paid tribute to Lonergan's courage, saying it would provide extra motivation to his teammates this weekend.

``Everyone's very proud of what he's done and they're really happy to have him around here,'' he said.

``They think it's a gutsy effort to want to play and to force his way back to the level of fitness to be able to take the field this week. It is a sensational effort.

``I'm not sure once the game starts whether it'll have much effect but I think in the lead-up (it will).''

Thompson said he did not have  an opinion one way or the other whether Lonergan would make it back, but said the defender  had a lot of family and friends rally around him since the incident.