After two wins from two efforts against Blayney and Workies, that's the exact position the two-blues were in as they squared off against tournament heavyweights Bathurst St Pat's in the final.

While the Hawks fell 22-12 in the final match of the day, Blimka was delighted with the position his boys put themselves in considering the names that were missing from the roster.

"We had several players out due to representative games and some others were just away," Blimka said.

"Some of the guys out there haven't even played footy before."

Pre-season tournaments are always a good opportunity to see what kind of players you've got and Blimka used the event at Blayney to gauge the talent on squad.

"This sets us up really well for the season. Some of the guys looked really good," he said.

"We've got a lot of depth."

When Blimka was asked to isolate a stand-out player for the day, he couldn't, giving equal praise to everyone who took the field.

"You can't pick just one of them. Every single bloke gave 100%," he said.

It's no surprise Bathurst St Pat's were waiting for the Hawks in the final as the reigning Group 10 champions were probably the odds-on favourite to win the knockout on Saturday.

After winning both of their pool games and coming within just ten points of arguably the best team in the competition - with a depleted side - Orange Hawks could be in for an extremely fruitful 2020 campaign.