Former Group 10 premiership winner Dave Howard makes his step up to Peter McDonald Premiership

But when injuries struck the Saints in their derby loss to Panthers it left the team needing to do some shuffling, and the call went out to the Pat's 2014 Group 10 premiership winner to see if he was interested in a top grade return.

Howard may not have had the match fitness that he would have liked coming into the game but the centre still played a hand in the team's win over the Lithgow Workies.

He now backs up for a big top-of-the-table clash at home this Sunday against minor premiers Mudgee Dragons.

"It's been a while since I've played so the fitness wasn't up to scratch but it was definitely great to be out there again," he said.

"I took a step back with work commitments and there was a lot going on, plus I wanted to let my young bloke play for a bit before I got back into it.

"The fitness levels are nowhere near where they should be, especially after only playing a couple of reggies games before first grade, where the tempo's higher, so I struggled a fair bit, in all honesty," he laughed.

Howard played two reserve grade matches at the start of the season before stepping back due to work commitments, then made his return in the derby.

It's been a quick step up to the top level but he's eager to try and help the Saints go two from two against the Dragons this year.

"It's a top of the ladder clash and we're the only Group 10 team that's beaten them so I expect that they'll come out hard and ready to go," he said.

"Hopefully we can match them."

Helping the Saints' cause this Sunday will be the return of player-coach Zac Merritt to the field.

Merritt had always targeted the Dragons clash as an ideal return date from his groin injury and said it's great to test himself out against a quality outfit.

"You get a good test straight away when you come up against Mudgee, who have the minor premiership wrapped up, and that gets you ready for a big game against Hawks the following weekend," he said.

"They'll be coming in still wanting to win this and I doubt they'll rest anyone. They'll want to play it right through. We've still got Willie [Wright] out [due to suspension] so it'll be a good test, and one that we can rise for.

"They'll definitely come out strong because we put them away at their own ground earlier in the year."

The team's 42-10 hammering of the Dragons at Glen Willow Stadium back in round six remains one of the biggest shocks of the PMP season.

Knowing that they've got the job done before gives Merritt confidence his Saints can do it again.

"Over the last week we've really honed in on the fact we want to play high percentage football, and we've addressed that our percentages have been down," he said.

"We really want to be around that 85 per cent mark or higher, and that's what we did against Mudgee when we played them over there."

The game kicks-off from 2pm at Jack Arrow Sporting Complex.

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