Dane Cordner, James Handford and Kane Evans will all link with the Pirates soon, although it's unlikely they'll be available for Sunday's game against Port Macquarie at Port Macquarie.

"They'll give us a bit of experience in the forwards, which will be great,'' captain-coach Mick Henry said.

Cordner, the elder brother of Boyd, the former Sydney Roosters, Australian and NSW skipper, hasn't played for a couple of years. A middle forward, he is an Old Bar junior who last turned out with Central Newcastle in the Newcastle first grade competition.

"He's finishing his house in Newcastle so he won't be playing until that's finished,'' Henry said.

Meanwhile the Pirates haven't made any changes to the squad that impressively accounted for Wauchope last week for this Sunday's clash.

"We'll have the same side two weeks in a row, which is a first for us this year,'' Henry said.

He said a win on Sunday will give the Pirates a pass mark for what has been a difficult opening to the season, where the club has only played one game at Old Bar - and that was at the Trad Field and not their usual headquarters at Old Bar Reserve (aka The Graveyard).

"I was really happy with the way the players responded last week after we had a heap out the previous match against Wingham and we were beaten pretty heavily,'' Henry said.

The Sharks lost to Port City last weekend, however, Henry said they remain among the favoured teams for premiership honours.

"To get a win against them up there would be massive,'' he said.

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The Pirates play Taree at Taree on Saturday, July 2 and then head to Port to play the Breakers on July 16 after the break in the competition for the Indigenous All Stars/Group Three All Stars game at Kempsey on July 11.

Henry pointed out the Pirates will then enjoy a run of games at home heading to the playoffs.

"And The Graveyard is starting to dry out now, so we're looking forward to playing a few games there,'' he said.