Just over a month ago, Goodman would have pencilled in all three points against last year’s grand finalists, but a month is a long time in football.

The coach has plenty of selection headaches to make with the unavailability of goalkeeper Cameron Higham and defender Ty Marchant.

Midfielder Griffin Goodman was targeted by Wallis Lake last weekend and won’t make the trip south.

Anthony Jamieson and Dan Gardner are rated only 50-50 chances, while Sam von Hartzitsch has left for New Zealand.

Danish midfielder Dean Hansen is expected to be a straight swap for Goodman and should come straight into the starting side.

“It’s definitely a danger game for us, so if we can take points on Saturday I’m happy,” Goodman said.

Saints will be confident after a hit and run mission saw them emerge with a 2-0 win over Wallis Lake last weekend which kept their undefeated season in tact.

But Goodman isn’t reading too much into the last encounter between his side and the Redbacks when Saints ran riot in a 4-1 win.

“They’re a lot better now than they were during that game,” he said.

“I saw the first half of their match against Port United on Tuesday night and they’ve definitely improved.”

The Saints coach admitted the closeness of this year’s competition ensured no match was a guaranteed win.

“There are no whipping boys this season,” he said.

“Wauchope looked like they might have been, but that hasn’t been the case over the last couple of weeks.”

Saints have set their sights on the finals after they “put points in the bank” with a successful first-half of the season.

“We’ve got points on the board so I think we should make the finals now,” Goodman said.

“And the competition is so close that fifth place could win the competition.”

Redbacks coach Jim Tredinnick admitted his side had turned the corner over the last seven days after pushing Wallis Lake and Port United all the way.

“We lost 3-1 to Wallis Lake, but I felt we were very competitive and then we backed it up against Port United,” he said.

“We’re not going to win the competition, but we can definitely provide some nuisance value over the second half of the season.”

He felt the Redbacks would continue to improve before the end of the season and was looking forward to the challenge of facing the second-placed Saints.

“Saints are definitely one of the teams to beat because they’re young, they move the ball well and they run all day,” he said.

“But I feel our midfield is a lot better than it was when we played them earlier in the season.”

Midfielder Jeremy Robinson is expected to return while captain Ryan Squires is rated an “unlikely” chance to play.

First grade kicks off at 3pm with reserve grade to start at 1.15pm at Vince Inmon Field.