Ranse is currently the Saints' leading try scorer of the season, with seven to his name, and has been a reliable finisher in the centres and he now looks to continue bringing in the points from five-eighth.

He's joined by Hayden Bolam in the halves, who replaces Blake Fitzpatrick for this round.

"It was a big loss for us with Mitchy Squire going down against CYMS. I'm filling in for him, so hopefully I can do just as good a job as he's been doing," he said.

"Apart from Blackheath, this is probably the most tries I've picked up at this point of the yeah. It's a bit different out in the centres but I like it there. I reckon I'll be comfortable in the halves."

Ranse linked up with the Saints at the end of last year following time with the Blackheath Blackcats and Oberon Tigers, and has been loving the atmosphere at the club this season.

"My partner and I moved up to Newcastle and then I came back for the last couple of games. We were starting to string it together and we wanted to bring that footy into this year," he said.

"We keep building, and this is probably the best team I've seen at St Pat's for a long time so it's great to be a part of that.

"Zac [Merritt] is a great coach who knows what he's talking about. He's a great teacher and he's been great for the club."

Pat's are back in action this week after a bye while a struggling Cowra outfit will try to bounce back from a brutal 66-10 defeat in the all-Magpie affair with Forbes.

The Saints go into the round 13 game with a perfectly balanced record of five wins, five losses and a draw - a balance that they want to start tipping in a positive direction.

It's been an up-and-down run over the last month for Pat's, who narrowly lost 10-6 to Orange CYMS in their latest game but accounted for Orange Hawks 22-0 a week earlier.

Cowra also got the better of Pat's in a shock 34-22 result in round four - one of just two wins for Cowra this year.

The Saints' desire for further consistency and stability certainly won't be helped by the forced change to the halves pairing but Ranse said the team has the potential to put it all together.

"There's been a couple of close games that we've lost," he said.

"I dropped the ball over the line against Mudgee, but we beat Panthers and nearly done CYMS and Mudgee. I think we can give it a fair shake when we've got our best team there. Hopefully we can get some of our best footy going around semis.

"Cowra did us at the start of the year but we aren't clicking like we are now. I think that we'll definitely give them a shake up this time."

Caleb Wardman has been promoted off the bench to start at centre in place of Ranse.

Jackson Vallis shifts across from lock to hooker, to cover for Bolam's halfback move, while the Saints welcome the return of regular starting lock Aaron Mawhinney to the side.

The vacated spot on the bench gives Aiden Stait the opportunity to make his Peter McDonald Premiership debut.

First grade kick-off at Jack Arrow Sporting Complex will be 2.15pm.

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