Hamilton Hawks premiership-winning halfback Paul Dan has been called up to fill the void left by Mahe Fangupo ahead of the Hunter Wildfires' last home game of the Shute Shield season.
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Dan will wear the No.9 jersey against West Harbour at No.2 Sportsground on Saturday with the former Tongan representative now unavailable, having travelled back to Forbes this week for personal reasons.
Wildfires coach Scott Coleman said Fangupo was a "massive loss for us" in the round-12 clash, which pits 10th versus 11th on the competition ladder. The Pirates sit six points above Hunter.
"He [Fangupo] has been one of our best," Coleman said.
"He struggled a little bit early when our forwards weren't going forward and we had a run of hard games, but since we've been matching it with our opponents he's really come into his own.
"He's been one of our top three performers almost every week."
Coleman has faith in Dan, having successfully teamed up before at club level and claiming multiple Newcastle and Hunter Rugby Union titles.
"He [Dan] answered a mayday call for us a while ago, came in round five and has been playing seconds for us," Coleman said.
"Then he pushed in front of Liam Kearney and now he's got a start.
"He's experienced and will have an easy job. All he's got to worry about is good service and getting the ball to Brendan [Holliday] when he wants it."
Melbourne Rising squad member Taylor Acheson will have his first run-on appearance for the Wildfires from fullback, replacing Chad Northcott (shoulder).
Front-rower Nicholas Dobson and lock Adam Edwards are promoted to Hunter's firxt XV, trading places with Geraint Weaver and Seva Rokoboro respectively.
The Wildfires are coming off a 50-15 loss to Warringah at home on Saturday and Coleman believes his squad has responded well at training this week.
"It's been pretty positive," he said.
"We spoke about it briefly on Tuesday and then just said forget about it. Those games are going to happen. Now we've got our last home game and it's about proving to the local crowd that we belong."
Kick-off is 3pm.
WILDFIRES: David Puchert, Philip Bradford, Nicholas Dobson, Jeremy Burrill, Adam Edwards, Alec Corcoran, Shawn Ingle, George Noa, Paul Dan, Brendan Holliday, Hamish McKie, Taulogo Lalaga, Chase Hicks, Nimilote Qio, Taylor Acheson, Steve Lamont, Dave Waller, Geraint Weaver, Seva Rokobaro.
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Josh Callinan
My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury.
My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury.
