HARE Meihana was grounded for the Blacks last round after severe winds in Wellington forced the cancellation of a flight back to Australia.
Meihana had returned home midweek for a funeral.
Dane Corbin did an outstanding job as a makeshift flyhalf in the Blacks' 30-24 win over University.
Premiers Maitland take on unbeaten leaders Merewether at Townson Oval on Saturday in a repeat of last season's grand final.
Meihana will be back in the No.10 jumper and his battle with opposite Adam Danckert will go a long way to determining the winner.
Danckert joined Merewether last season from Central Coast premiers Terrigal.
He and Meihana are arguably the best 10s in the competition in the past decade.
The pair have shared playmaking duties for Hunter and NSW Country, with Danckert getting the nod this year.
They can win games with their boot. They can win games with their passing. They are great tacticians and organisers. And both are extremely driven.
"Both teams rely heavily on their tens," Maitland coach Luke Cunningham said.
"Hare controls the tempo and directs us around the field, but our guys have to respond and buy into what he is asking of them. That is no different to Merewether."
Greens coach Nick Bampton said looks were deceiving when it came to Danckert, who looks every bit a laid-back surfer type.
"It is always a good match-up between Dancks and Hare," Bampton said. "The biggest thing is that they are both competitors. I don't reckon I have met a more competitive bloke than Dancks. He comes across as cool, calm and collected but he absolutely is a competitor."
Meihana's return is the only change to the Blacks from the win over third-placed University.
"Although it was a close scoreline. I felt that we were in control," Cunningham said. "Defensively we were good. I was really happy, especially with the strike they have in their backline.
"We will need to do that again tomorrow. Merewether have plenty of talent in their backline. They have some good ball runners who can bend the line."
Merewether beat Maitland 38-19 in their first encounter in round one and are yet to be beaten. Saturday is a round-seven clash which was postponed due to wet weather.
"Any grand final rematch, regardless of where the other is sitting, you are going to take seriously," Bampton said. "It is a game we will get up for.
"We definitely want to keep momentum going.
"We had a sit down with captains Rhys Bray and Will Schmetz on Sunday. We are 9-0 and they think we can be better. That is always good to hear."
Merewether and Maitland held joint training sessions with the Hunter Wildfires this week.
The Greens ran against the Wildfires first grade and the Blacks opposed the Wildfires second grade squad.
Wildfires director of rugby Darren Coleman ran both sessions.
"It is a great initiative," Cunningham said. "The players from both teams bought into it.
"It was a good experience for my guys to see what is involved from a training aspect at the next level up. The fundamentals we focused on during team run, we did well. Hopefully it is a building block for tomorrow."
Bampton said the session was beneficial on a number of fronts.
"It gave us an idea of where we are at when we are unable to dictate the pace of the game," he said. "It also showed us a couple of areas we need to improve.
"Our backline more than held their own. The scrum help up pretty well but I'm not too sure how heavy they were going. We were staying in the fight."
Elsewhere Saturday, an undermanned Hamilton faces a big test against University at Bernie Curran Oval.
The Hawks are without Steve Lamont, Chris Ale, Lachy Summers, Fiso Vaisagote and Luke Bevan.
In the other postponed round seven game, Wanderers take on Southern Beaches at Ernie Calland Oval.
