Central North Rugby: Pirates to hit the field for first time in 2021 with trial against Dubbo

It will be almost 12 months to the day since they last played a game, playing in a three-way trial against Maitland and Merewether Carlton on March 7 last year.

They were due to tackle the Roos two weeks later in what has become an annual hit-out.

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Saturday will be just the one game, kicking off at 3pm at Ken Chillingworth Oval.

"It's going to be weird having some footy but good too," first grade co-coach Mick Squires said.

"Everyone's so excited to have some games."

They have another trial against Nelson Bay on March 27. Then it's grand final combatants Walcha in Round 1.

Back training for about five weeks, after doing a few light sessions before Christmas, Squires said things are coming together well.

"We've got most of the first grade team returning from 2019 and a few faces from 2018 premiership team coming back," he said.

Brendan Rixon and Andrew Moodie are both back on deck, as is Jake Douglas.

On top of that they have also picked up a couple of new faces including an English back that played with Coonabarabran last season.

"He looks like he's got a lot of speed," Squires said.

They've also got a couple of players that have come down from Armidale.

Part of what Saturday will be about for Squires and coaching partner Todd Pascoe is having a look at them as well some of the players coming out of last year's under-18s side.

"There's a lot of people we want to look at," Squires said.

"We've got a lot of selection headaches but they're good ones."

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