Witchard will play five-eighth and will swap with North Coast under 23 representative Conor Taylor, who will start in reserve grade. Taylor, an Englishman, joined the club this season.

"We're just looking for a bit of leadership and experience around the halves,'' Old Bar coach Jamie Moorehead said.

He said Taylor will be given a game in reserve grade to get some confidence back, but will stand by for firsts.

"Best case scenario is that Conor gets the three points for best and fairest in reserves,'' Moorehead said.

Witchard, a club stalwart, played one game in firsts in 2017 and another last year. Moorehead wouldn't predict how long this stint in first grade will last, but he added the side trained strongly on Thursday night with Witchard at pivot.

Moorehead said the Pirates haven't been capitalising on the good work of their forwards and said their execution has at times been poor. The thought is that Witchard will be able to steer the side around the park.

Utility player Dylan Towers has made a quicker-than-expected return from a rib injury and has been named in the centres. Towers also trained this week and Moorehead said he came through the session without any problems.

interchange forward Joel Dark is out for a couple of weeks with a shoulder problem.

The Pirates are still without a win and were comfortably beaten by Port Macquarie last week. However, Moorehead said that most teams seem to be struggling for consistency this season.

"We only need one win and we're not far out of the top five,'' he said.

However, Moorehead agreed the Pirates need to get to win soon or they'll fall too far behind the pack.

Meanwhile Keda Moylan, who played the first half of last season with the Pirates, has been named at fullback for Forster-Tuncurry for Sunday's clash.

Moylan is returning from a shoulder injury.