Young five-eighth Pat Batey returns to the Maitland Blacks this week after cutting short his travels in Canada.
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Batey’s return could not have come at a better time with another young gun Rhys Clacherty sidelined with injury.
Clacherty has been outstanding since taking the No.10 jersey at the beginning of the year, when Batey decided to take a year out of the game to travel through Canada.
Blacks co-coach Ryan McCormack was excited about Batey’s return as the Blacks gear up for the finals.
“Pat was one of the outstanding young prospects to come through our Colts and his return could not have been better time with Rhys injured,” he said.
Prop James Robinson will also be missing with injury.
The Blacks welcome back Anderson-medal winner Nick Davidson from suspension.
Davidson will start in second grade and is no certainty of returning into the first grade starting XV.
"Nick is unable to train during the week and given the depth we have, the guys who have taken his place will get first option in the side,” McCormack said.
“We have talked about building depth and this is a really positive sign that players will have to compete for spots.
“Going forward towards the finals, it is important for us in terms of combinations to have a settled team training as much as possible together.”
McCormack expects to face a fired up Singleton Bulls on Saturday in front of their old boys.
“Singleton haven’t won a game this year, but they would love nothing better than beating us on Old Boys day,” he said.
“I think they will have set themselves for this game and will put in a big effort.
“There are no easy games this year and we really are in a position where we just need to keep winning.
“We believe we can be a real show for the title this year, but saying that we still need to make sure we get into the finals.”
The Blacks put together one of their best performances for the year in beating bogey side The Waratahs at Marcellin Park last week.
They ran in four tries within the first 25-minutes but allowed their rivals back into the game but picked up their intensity again for a 38-31 win.
McCormack said team spirits were high after the win, which ended a five-game losing streak including three and two-point losses against top two teams Wanderers and Hamilton respectively.
“There was probably a sense of relief that our efforts had finally been rewarded and we played the type of footy we wanted to,” he said.
“We analysed the issues which allowed Waratahs back into the game and have addressed them.”