Matt Ranse returns for St Pat's as they chase Group 10 premier league derby upset

Ranse is back with the Saints after returning to Bathurst from Newcastle and gives the blue and whites a big boost ahead of a clash with the competition leaders at Carrington Park.

Saints came up just two points short of finding their third straight win when going down 20-18 to Orange CYMS last Sunday but their recent resurgence, and bolstered lineup, will be sure to give them confidence against their cross-city rivals.

"He'll be one to watch out for this weekend," Saints coach Zac Merritt.

"He moved away at the start of the year. He came back recently and that's when I reached out to him. Ash Cosgrove was going to start at fullback and Ransey was going to come off the bench, but it didn't work out that way with Ash living in Sydney and stuck there due to COVID.

"Ransey will be a great fit there at fullback because he brings a lot of speed. He'll definitely do the job for us."

Pat's were constantly playing catch up in last Sunday's game and Merritt said that could have been a different story if the finishing clicked into place.

"I look back at the game and I think that we did a great job creating opportunities but we didn't take enough of them. That's something that we've spoken about, and against a good squad you've got to take anything that comes your way," he said.

"Our scramble was a little bit off, and I thought both teams were a little bit flat after having the previous week off. Hopefully our defence picks up a bit this week. We have to make sure that we're switched on the whole time and that if someone does make a break that we're able to scramble."

Structure is the key word for Merritt and his team this week - something he knows is paramount to success against a benchmark team like Panthers.

"We'll keep sticking to our structures. I spoke to the halves about the fact that we're setting a good platform through the middle - and we're winning most of our matches there - but our finishing hasn't been good enough.

"They'll have a job on the weekend to get the ball into a corner a make the other team work it out, like they do to us. I don't feel like there's any pressure on us, we just have to ensure that we continue to play what's in front of us."

In other changes to the Saints lineup this Saturday Mitch Squire will jump from hooker to five-eighth to replace the absent Haze Reweti.

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