Pearce to return for Knights in NRL

Knights coach Nathan Brown admitted his side had struggled without their halfback and on-field general after his missed their last nine matches with a pectoral tear.

In his absence, the Knights slumped to seven losses and two wins - leaving them four wins outside the eight and with too much work to do to make the finals with eight rounds remaining.

A season that promised so much was pushed off-track by Pearce's injury and he will make his return against Parramatta at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night.

"We haven't coped with the loss of Mitch to be honest with you," Brown said.

"We've had a couple of of wins along the way and a few moments in games where we would have liked to have done better. And someone of Mitch's experience would have done that.

"The ... biggest things are his talk, his ability to drive his teammates, and his kicking game. We really struggled without him - a good kicking game would have made the game a lot easier."

The Knights will be further boosted by the return of prop Daniel Saifiti from a foot injury while debutant Nick Meaney replaces fullback Kalyn Ponga, who is still at least a week away.

In other team news, Parramatta have named Michael Jennings despite the former NSW centre spending the bye week playing for reserve grade side Wentworthville.

Penrith will hand Caleb Aekins his NRL debut in place of injured fullback Dallin Watene-Zelezniak when they take on Cronulla at Panthers Stadium.

Wade Graham returns from a cheek injury for the Sharks following an interrupted first half of the season.

Melbourne have received a big boost to their engine room with Jesse Bromwich (hamstring) back while Jahrome Hughes is a surprise selection at halfback ahead of Ryley Jacks and Brodie Croft for Saturday's match against arch-rivals Manly.

Manly have named hooker Manase Fainu despite revelations he is facing court for recording a sex act and uploading it to social media.

Canberra strike weapon Jordan Rapana (hamstring) will be back to face North Queensland while Blake Austin remains on the bench despite his game-winning effort against Canterbury.

Benji Marshall comes in for Josh Reynolds (shoulder) at five-eighth while Ben Matulino will also inject some experience into the Wests Tigers side for their clash with St George Illawarra.

The Sydney Roosters have rested skipper Boyd Cordner for Sunday's clash with the Titans as he gets set to play in State of Origin III on Wednesday night.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves returns in place of injured prop Dylan Napa (knee).

The Warriors have retained Peta Hiku for Sunday's clash with Brisbane despite being hooked in last week's loss to Melbourne.

Australian Associated Press