The Maitland Blacks have been forced to recast their backline, but will take an unchanged pack into Saturday's away game against University of Newcastle.
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Blacks coach Matt Thomas has brought Rob Williamson and Ben Taylor into the starting line-up to cover injuries to centre Jye Estatheo and fly-half Pat Batey.
Estatheo could be out for up to six weeks and Batey is expected to miss a month, and Thomas said it was good to be able to replace them with players who had first grade experience.
"We've shuffled the backline around a little bit. We've swapped Carl Manu and Willo in the centres and we've got Josh McCormack at 10 and Ben will play at scrum-half," Thomas said.
"The forward pack will stay the same. That's all the changes we've got at the moment."
Maitland kicked off the season with a 21-17 win against Wanderers, courtesy of a late try by Manu.
University started with a 15-43 loss to Nelson Bay, but the Blacks will be preparing for a tough encounter and to implement lessons learned from what was an expected clunky start to their new game plan.
"Training was really constructive on Tuesday night, we had a video session to highlight some issues we had just in the way we are combining as a team," Taylor said.
"It's still going to take a few more weeks.
"I expected the first game to be a bit clunky, I expected it to be not as efficient as what we needed but as first graders we've got to change that around.
"Probably a little bit of attitude in defence, it was a bit off and we need to be a lot more constructive in the breakdown.
"We weren't strong enough at the breakdown we lost the battle.
"They are easy things to turn around, a lot of it's mental and they can be turned around quickly."
Thomas said there were some real positives to come out of the weekend as well.
"Sometimes when you are not playing well you can concentrate on the negatives but we need to acknowledge the positives and one of those was just our belief in the side," he said.
"With that belief and trust in each other we can change things around."
Thomas said he was pleased with the performances of the new players coming into the line-up.
"I thought Lachland Bradford was outstanding, I think just his composure, he is starting to become a bit of a leader in the side.
"Marcus (Christensen) really settled in with Howelly (Michael Howell) in the second row. He made some good runs and had some solid defence.
"Jimmy (James Hawkins) hasn't played for a couple of year and although still a bit rusty he played very well. He is starting to get some belief and confidence.
"It was great to see Harry Chapman back in black, I thought he was very good."
Thomas said he believed the new game plan would take time to click but it's emphasis on greater ball movement and vision to identify opportunities was worth the work.
"We've started to introduce a bit of a different game plan than what Maitland is used to and that takes time, it's not just Maitland, it's takes any team time," he said.
"We want to see them thinking about their game and running it instead of just bash it up, bash it up, bash it up. To allow the ball do a lot of the running, play smarter football and take opportunities."