Ham makes his 100^th first grade appearance in Hunter Rugby for Wanderers when the arch rivals meet in a catch-up game at No.2 Sportsground on Wednesday night and Two Blues coach Dan Beckett wants to ensure it is a memorable milestone for the No.8.

"Merewether handed us a lesson in the first round but Ben wasn't there," Beckett said. "This week is Hammy's 100th first-grade game, so it is a big occasion. He is our leader and we want to support him. As a leader, he only knows one way and is what our club wants to be. He is tough, he is committed ... he gets better every week.

"He makes a huge difference to us and has a huge influence on the opposition. He is hard to handle in full flight. We welcome him back but we also know we are up against a good team."

The 30-19 loss to the Greens had been Wanderers' only defeat until they were upset 36-22 by Singleton on Saturday. The Two Blues led 22-10 with 10 minutes remaining before losing Nimi Qio, Hayden O'Brien and Luke Simmons to the sinbin in quick succession. The Bulls made the most of the numerical advantage to run in four tries.

"When it is 15 on 12 against some handy Fijian sevens players, you are going to struggle," Beckett said. "There is obviously a perception from the referees that we are ill-disciplined. We have to address it. That display is probably typical of where the comp is at the moment. It was crazy. We won't completely wipe it, but we are also looking forward to getting back out on the park again."

Merewether haven't played since conceding a late try to go down 29-28 to Hamilton on July 3 - their only loss of the campaign.

The clash against Wanderers was washed out and they had the bye last weekend.

"It is a funny draw at the moment," Lind said.

"It has a lot of stops and starts. Now we have a clear run of games right through.

"We have had a group of guys training for eight months so it was a good mid-season freshen up for those guys. We changed up the strength and conditioning sessions. [Former NSW Waratahs scrum coach] Mark Bell did a sessions for us. We had netball experts Raegan Jackson and Dennis Shaw who has also coached a lot of touch footy. We looked at how we can keep a bit of relevance and improve the skills in some areas when you have some down time, rather than concentrate on structure. When we do train there is a focus on what the outcome is."

Lind is expecting a different Wanderers side from their round-two meeting

"They have a strong back-row and a big team," he said. "Dan [Beckett] pours a bit of hi-octane fuel into them before they play and they are pumped to go.

"I don't think how they played last Saturday will be how they play on Wednesday night.

"Everyone is pumped for it on both sides of the fence."

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