Mohammad, Weston's top scorer with six goals, missed the 3-0 loss to Charlestown on Sunday, which allowed Olympic to overtake the Bears into fifth spot.

Richards said Mohammad was 50-50 for the catch-up game after training on Monday night. The Bears still have Zac Sneddon (illness) sidelined, while Tom Duggan has left for US college and Sam Kamper is out after copping a concussion late on Sunday.

Goalkeeper Stuart Plant returned to first-grade against Charlestown after overcoming a neck injury from a collision on April 29 which forced the game against Magic to be halted.

** Valentine expect to have skipper Harry Lane and top scorer Ryan Clarke back for their rematch with Lambton Jaffas at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Wednesday night (8pm).

Phoenix have not played since downing Jaffas 2-1 with a last-kick goal on July 17 to move to 19 points, now five points off fifth-placed Olympic with two games in hand on them. Lambton bounced back to beat Lake Macquarie 2-0 and sit two wins from leaders Azzurri with three games in hand on them.

Clarke and Lane were away for the win over Jaffas and coach Adam Hughes said they should be back for the catch-up. Adam Mlinaric (shoulder), though, was 50-50. Hughes (broken arm) and Dean Heffernan (broken foot) remain sidelined.

Jaffas have Mitch Rooke (hamstring) out but Luke Virgili and Reece Papas (suspension) back.

Hughes said his side "need to be beating these teams if we want to be competing in finals".

"They are obviously one of the top teams, when you look at their quality, but we've got some good young ones coming through. They are learning each week, it's a slow process, but I'm happy with how they are progressing."

Valentine won their most recent match on the LMRFF synthetic pitches, beating Olympic 2-1, and Hughes said: "I think the players just enjoy it now. It's gone past the point of 'you might get ankle injuries'. I think it's just the happiness of getting on to play."

He said the unprecedented rainfall this season had "highlighted the poor facilities we have here in the Hunter".

"In Sydney, the football has continued and they are on schedule, and we are here battling against all forces to play.

"It comes down to the councils, I think they have to understand it's not good enough and they need to get on the front foot to produce better facilities.

"We need more synthetic pitches spread out through the region."

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