Coach Anthony Eriksson expects the return of NSW Waratahs prop Georgia Chapple to provide an added lift as the Hunter Wildfires open their Jack Scott Cup campaign against newcomers Southern Districts at Woy Woy Oval on Saturday.
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The 19-year-old Novocastrian was not named for the Waratahs' Super W clash with the Queensland Reds on Saturday and has been made available to play for the Wildfires in round one of Sydney's premier women's rugby union competition.
Chapple will come off the bench.
"That is a real good inclusion for us heading into round one, an experienced prop like that," Eriksson said.
"You can't get that type of experience and also a girl like Georgia coming back boosts confidence of the rest of the team knowing they've got a player from the Super W coming back. Hopefully that will lift the girls another slight notch."
Hunter have been training since before Christmas under their new coach but have played just one trial match in pre-season.
They were set to host big guns Sydney University in a final hit-out last weekend before the season started but the game was washed out. Hunter's only pre-season trial match was against Manly in early March.
"It was a game we were looking forward to," Eriksson said.
"They've been up there for the last couple of years so it would have been a real good test to see how the girls have been tracking with the new style of game play.
"The girls have had a bit of running in the legs but pre-season just doesn't compare to match-day fitness.
"I'm not expecting them to blow it off the park given we haven't had a lot of trial games, but I'm just excited to see how much they've picked up over the pre-season and then go from there and see what we need to start working on."