A hastily put together Hunter team made an underwhelming return to the championship last year, finishing fifth.

They went down 21-13 to Illawarra in the first game to end their hopes of winning the Caldwell Cup and then lost a seeding game to the Central Coast 29-10.

That side had three training sessions to prepare it and it showed.

Brett, who is affectionately knows as Moose, has been working with a squad of about 40 players for the past four weeks. Injuries have made a dent but he has been happy with the lead up.

Hamilton, Maitland, Wanderers and Nelson Bay players make up the majority of the squad, which will be cut to 25 for the titles (June 11-12).

Hunter meet defending champions Central West in the opening game in Tamworth at 9am on the Saturday and back-up against Illawarra in the afternoon. Their next opponent will depend on results.

"Things are coming together pretty well," Brett said. "We lost Eli McCulloch (dislocated hip) and Timmy Turner (broken ankle) early and young Uni half Murray Sutherland broke his hand last weekend. Merewether back-rowers Lachy Miller and Lachy Milton are unavailable and Ben Ham is down in Tasmania. Even with those guys out, we have a very solid squad."

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The pack should be strong up front. Harry Chapman, Blair Rush, Dave Puchert, Tom Vincent and recently arrived Kiwi Chris Hemi (Hamilton) are in the squad.

Brendan Jackson (Merewether), Adam Edwards (Nelson Bay) and Taufa Kinikin (Hamilton) are among the lineout options.

In the backs, there is a mix of experience, game-breakers and speed led by Charlie Fielder, Onewai Tai, Chris Logan, Pat Batey, Chad Northcott, Nimi Qio and Hamish Mckie.

"It will be a very simple game plan," Brett said. "Cohesion is always the issue with rep teams. That has been a big focus of the training - getting to know each other.

"We will use our strengths which is speed and play with a bit of width."

Brett played for Sydney club Easts and was their junior coaching director for a number of seasons before moving to Newcastle. He is assistant coach to Marty Berry at Hamilton.

Hunter withdrew from the men's division in 2019 and the championships were cancelled in 2020 last year due to COVID-19.

The last time Hunter won the Caldwell Cup was in 2017. They were beaten semi-finalists in 2018.

A NSW Country Cockatoos squad will be selected from the weekend to compete in the Australian Rugby Shield in October.

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