Representative halfback Jono O’Toole is a major doubt with a hamstring problem while Ryan McCormack is out with a knee injury.

To make matters worse, star signing Josh McCormack will miss the next four to six weeks with a shoulder injury sustained in the first 15 minutes of the win over University.

Luke Cunningham is expected to come in for O’Toole but is battling a calf strain and is no certainty to be available.

Coach Bobby Tynan said the injuries have provided a major disruption in the lead up to the clash at Dangar Park.

“The injuries we’ve had have changed the whole focus of our week,” he said.

“We were going to try and play a bit more of an expansive game this week but with our injury problems we might be better keeping it simple.

“We’ll see who we’ve got on deck after training but I’m banking on being without those boys.”

The big plus for Maitland is the return of representative breakaway James Johnston.

Johnston suffered concussion at the NSW Country Championships and was left out as a precaution against University.

His inclusion is a major positive for Tynan.

“We stood Jimmy down last week with that head knock, he could have played but we erred on the side of caution,” he said.

“Sean O’Connor was really strong last week but Jimmy is Jimmy and having him available is huge for us.”

In other changes to the Blacks’ run-on team, Jordy Lantry will wear the number 10 jersey while Mitchell Anderson will play outside centre.

Maitland was impressive in defence last week and Tynan said he wanted the team to build on that display against Easts, who were smashed 39-5 by Nelson Bay in their opening round clash.

“Easts were well beaten last week but they will be a different kettle of fish down there,” he said.

“We’ve worked on our defensive patterns this week at training and we need to keep improving.

“But our main aim in all games is to hold on to the ball because we have the ability and skill to score a lot of points.”

The game kicks off at 3pm.