Number nines playing at different stages of their respective careers, Newcastle's Luke Huth and Northern's Adam Clydsdale will be chasing the same goal at Singleton's Pirtek Park.

"It will be a really good battle of the hookers," Brennan told the Newcastle Herald.

"You've got a guy in Adam who's played NRL, excelled and had a really good career. And you've got a guy in Luke who I think should should still be in an NRL system.

"We've spoken about Adam. We know he's a class act, we know he's someone who we've got to be really careful of and we know he's someone who we have to be on top of our game with."

Both sides come in fresh after enjoying a weekend off, Newcastle on the back of a second-round forfeit from Macarthur and Northern following a narrow 16-14 win over Western in Narromine a fortnight ago.

"They're a quality side and they beat Western division, which is not an easy task," Brennan said.

"We're under no illusions that if we play like we did in round one, we're going to struggle."

The Rebels, who held a session at Dudley on Friday night, are still without Peter Mata'utia with Brennan saying "foot still playing up, pulled up sore after training last week".

Mata'utia missed Newcastle's opening 26-14 victory against Central Coast at Cessnock Sportsground on March 2.

Nick Ritter (calf), Dylan Phythian (concussion) and Timanu Alexander (knee) are unavailable with injury.

Among the replacements are two Rebels debutants - ex-Eels forward Peni Terepo and former Singleton player Will Nieuwenhuise.

REBELS: Cameron Anderson, Honeti Tuha, Blake Ferguson, Matt Soper-Lawler, Will Nieuwenhuise, Chad O'Donnell (c), Will Smith, Jayden Butterfield, Luke Huth, James Taylor, Lewis Hamilton, Lincoln Smith, Ben Stone, Ryan Glanville, Jack Welsh, Liam Wiscombe, Peni Terepo, Matt Moon.