Cummings, who has been sidelined since injuring his hamstring in the early stages of the round 10 clash with Carngham-Linton, was rated “unlikely” to make his return by Bulldogs coach Andrew Button yesterday.

And Cummings was not named in the team submitted to The Courier last night.

However, it would not surprise if the explosive onballer was risked tomorrow, given the magnitude of the game.

After all, a spot in the Central Highlands Football League top four and a double chance in finals is on the line.

The winner will assume the mantle of fourth position – currently occupied by Daylesford – and leave the loser to fight its way through a cut-throat path to the grand final.

Cummings’ comeback would be a major boost to the Bulldogs, which have now gone undefeated since their round seven loss to Bungaree.

“Being so tight up the top, you can’t afford to drop too many games, and we did early. We had to hit our straps a bit quicker than what we would have liked, and had to maintain it for a lot longer,” Button said of his team’s nine-match winning streak.

Veteran onballer Luke Adams was another who missed last weekend’s win over Beaufort, but is expected to return for the clash with the Roos.

“Looking at (Waubra’s) results, they haven’t been all that much different to ours. Even though they’ve had injuries, they’ve still been performing pretty well,” Button said.

“It’s not going to be an easy one, so we are still going to have to play some decent footy. Ideally, that’s what I’d expect going into finals anyway.”

Waubra spearhead Lee Brown may not come up from an ankle injury sustained against the Crows a couple of weeks ago, and was missing from the Roos’ list of inclusions last night.

Midfielders Ash Whelan and Tom Nijam, who both missed against Illabarook on Saturday, are the key players named to return for the reigning premiers, which won the corresponding round 17 clash against Daylesford last year by 73 points.

They then triumphed over the Bulldogs in the grand final by 25 points.

Tip: Daylesford by a goal