Towers is recovering from suspected fractured ribs and is no chance of playing.

Doubts remain on the availability of skipper PJ Ellis, Jacob Sinclair and Jayden Rosberg.

Utility back Steve Waetford did not train on Tuesday night but is expected to recover from back soreness from a heavy hit against Wests.

The best news on the injury front was that hooker Jarrod Smith has been cleared to play after undergoing mandatory concussion tests this week.

“I’m just up in the air with the final make up,” Ott said at training this week.

“Injuries are playing a part in that. It’s a juggling act with blokes and their work now, who you get during the week, who you can put on the training track and what you get out of that week.

“Even the intensity of that, sometimes they need a little bit of a let down for maintenance. At other times you’ve got to lift the intensity to get them up for a game.”

Ott said with more time on the track and field together he was confident the Pickers’ best could match any team in the Newcastle Rugby League.

“I thought we showed plenty of ticker last week against West. I know we haven’t won a game, but we’ve lost to the premiers and minor premiers and played really well against those sides,” he said.

“It was disappointing against Kurri, but I think it’s just around the corner that we can pick one up (a win)  or string a couple together, which would do our confidence really good.

“That’s the thing for me, we lift for your Lakes and Wests and perform very well against them, but we were very flat against Kurri and behind the eight ball from the beginning. 

“For me we’re trying to get that high quality performance every week, like we did against Wests. If we can bottle that I think we will take care of ourselves.”

Ott said he would again be emphasising ball retention in the final training session before Saturday’s game.

“They’ve got some good player and we need  to stand up a bit more and complete sets, especially in our own half,” he said.

“I thought our attack was enterprising at times last week but our set completion, particularly in our own 40 was poor and hurt us.”