Central North Rugby: Jake Douglas makes seamless return as Pirates romp to 57-6 first round win

At Walcha on Saturday the man they call Snake played his first season opener since the 2015 season, and just third game for Pirates in six seasons.

After getting itchy feet, he made a brief comeback late in the 2019 season, but injury limited him to just a couple of appearances.

At the time, he said he had "never intended to stay away forever" - he stepped away to focus on other sporting and career pursuits - but the years "just got away on me".

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The former NSW Country rep, and 2011 player of the grand final, was one of several stars from Pirates previous premiership successes making their returns on Saturday.

Damian Reti, Brendan Rixon and Andrew Moodie also made a welcome sight back in the black and gold.

"I've been chasing some other things athletically for a little while now and I guess I wanted a hard reset with what I was doing and I've got a lot of mates (at the club), and we're all getting a bit older," Douglas explained.

"So I knew if I wanted to come back and have a season with my good mates that it probably had to be this year or next year and no time like the present I guess."

He said he "loved" being out there again.

"I love the game, I love playing with the boys and it's just really refreshing to get back out here," he said.

He also loved having the seven on his back again after in more recent times playing in the centres.

"I don't know if I would have stopped (playing) if I was playing in the forwards," he said tongue-in-cheek post-match.

One of the most damaging centres in the competition when he was last playing, breakaway has always been where his heart lies.

"That's where I like to play; it's been where I've always liked to play," he said.

"We've got a lot of good quality backs this year so that's allowed me to make the move back there."

Douglas admitted he was "very nervous" in the lead-up to Saturday.

"I had a couple of doubts, but as soon as the whistle went they were all sort of gone and it all just kicked into gear," he said.

He didn't skip a beat. He was strong over the ball, busy in defence and showed plenty of toe in scoring Pirates' second try.

Scooping up the ball from the back of the ruck near half-way, he brushed off the attempts of the would-be Rams defenders and scooted away to score.

"I was lucky it opened up," he said.

"That try was purely from a good clean out so I was lucky to have a bit of space in front of me."

He was though willing the tryline, joking that another 10m and he "would have been out of gas".

In what was an ominous start from the premiers they thumped their grand final adversaries from two years ago 57-6.

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