Hooker Jarrod Smith has been given the all clear from a 12-month injury break to join former premiership player Marco Delapena and star recruit Matt Allwood to be available for the Pickers first home game on Saturday.
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Smith is expected to makes his long-awaited return from ACL surgery in Saturday's clash against Central Newcastle at the Maitland Sportsground.
Allwood, the former NRL centre who joined the Pickers from Knights and 2011 premiership utility Marco Delapena will also be available for selection which will be finalised at training on Friday night..
"We got through unscathed against Cessnock and hopefully get a few guys back on Friday for our team selection," Pickers coach Luke Dorn said.
"Geordie Connelly has passed his concussion test and will be ready to play.
Jarrod's had his medical clearance, Matt Allwood will be back from injury as will Marco Delapena. So we've got a full book of people at this stage for selection on Friday night.
Central probably gave the Pickers the most trouble of any side last year, but both teams have had significant changes in line-ups and in the Butcherboys coach with Phil Williams at the helm in 2019.
"We want to turn the tide on them from last year and it's out first home game of the year so we've certainly got a lot to play for,"
"We started well in the first round and we want a good crowd and an equally good performance for them in our first home game.
"I thought it was a really good effort by the boys to get that victory.
"We come home this week and the ground is looking fantastic, we're in a good spot, we're relatively healthy and ready to go and make our home games really count this year.
"The boys are really excited about the first home game.
"We started poorly against Cessnock, but that belief in our systems and discipline and trust to continue with what we've been doing really shone through in the end.
"It was one of those games that where you get the cash, a win when you reflect at the end of the season was very important.
"We were far from our best but if you can still pick up wins when you're far from your best then that is a really promising outlook for the season."
Dorn was particularly impressed with the input of his young backs in the round one victory.
"We had young Greg Morris, who came out of All Age last year, make his debut on one wing and Gary Anderson and Elijah Rasiga on the other edge and they stood up," he said.
"We then lost Geordie and Gary had to come off so we had to bring in young Matt Meafua into the centres against a representative centre and he was exceptional.
"We had a new half. We had plenty of reasons for us not to turn up for each other and hold them out,but you could see and feel that as a group they really wanted it for each other and they weren't going to give it up without a fight.
"In the end we had enough fight in us to get a win which was excellent."