In an added blow for North Ballarat Roosters, the versatile Liam Hoy has been ruled out with an ankle injury ahead of Saturday’s Victorian Football League game against Casey Scorpions.

Hoy sustained an ankle strain in action against Geelong and, while he played out the game, did not recover as well as the Roosters had hoped by Monday. He was named in the Selkirk Roosters’ best in the nine-point loss at Simonds Stadium.

The Roosters had been working to keep Austin on field until their bye round but an added knock in play against the Cats had caused his knee to flare up.

Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald said his medical teams did not want to risk any chance of further injury either player, especially so close to a scheduled week’s rest.

Veteran ruckman Orren Stephenson is completing full running sessions at training but will remain sidelined until after the bye as a precaution.

Stephenson was dealt a corked calf muscle in the dying moment of play against Footscray last month but re-injured the muscle, despite full clearance to play, a fortnight later. 

He is working for a return to face his old AFL club Richmond, when the Roosters host the Tigers at Eureka Stadium on July 5.

FitzGerald remained confident of regaining midfield duo Coleman Schache and Nick Peters to face the Scorpions.

Schache (knee) and Peters (ankle) were late scratchings for the Geelong road-trip. Both will be further assessed on Wednesday night after the team’s main training hit-out.

Fellow midfielder Nick Couch is on track to make his return to the football field.

Couch, who has been nursing a knee injury, has been training solidly and gradually increasing his training load but has been missing from action since late April.

The Roosters premiership player’s initial comeback was cut short from too much game time in his season debut via Springbank in the Central Highlands Football League.

Should Couch be cleared to play, he would only be eased back with very limited time in the Tigers’ seniors or reserves.

The Roosters are waiting for further update from AFL partner North Melbourne but the Kangaroos have already ruled out the luckless Taylor Garner with a complex fractured thumb.

Garner is set to miss about six weeks to recover from surgery on Monday night.

The 21-year-old was only three games into a return from more than a year sidelined for a string of hip and hamstring injuries.

This week is a pivotal game for the Roosters, who are three games off top-eight pace and with two wins from their opening nine matches.

They are working to build on the control and improve style they served up against Geelong, trying to turn around an horrific month of heavy losses.

Melbourne-aligned Casey Scorpions are ranked sixth.