It's been a long time coming but Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson is relishing the prospect of finally seeing Luke Keary and whizkid Sam Walker play alongside each other in the halves.
Keary played just three games last year as he suffered an ACL injury, with teenager Walker thrust into his NRL debut midway through the season.
Rated as one of the game's brightest talents, Leeds-born Walker lifted the Dally M Rookie of The Year award last year and will combine with Keary for the first time in their NRL season opener against Newcastle at the SCG on Saturday.
Keary suffered a stress fracture in his foot during the pre-season and did not feature in the Roosters' trials but Robinson declared the five-eighth ready to return.
"Even in training and getting to see them (working together) the last three to four weeks has been important," he said.
"We're trying to bring on a high-quality young player with Sam. We wanted to do that last year with Luke so it's good to get that started.
"(Luke) is such a high-quality player and he's in really good physical shape after a couple of setbacks but the most intelligent part of his life is right now.
"He knows his footy and knows what he wants. Now we have to combine the mental and physical."
Robinson said he hoped for Keary to play the full 80 minutes but he has the dependable Drew Hutchison on the bench if required.
The three-time premiership-winning coach will also welcome back prop Lindsay Collins and Billy Smith from long-term injuries, the latter seeing off competition from Kevin Naiqama to land a spot in the backline.
But while the prospect of a Walker-Keary combination has him excited, Robinson wants defence to come first for his side.
The Roosters leaked an average of 20 points per game during the 2022 regular season.
"We need to get better and we always pride ourselves on defence," he said.
"That hasn't cut the mustard the last couple of years. We want to improve that and we need to start that tomorrow and we need to get better in our system and our desire in defence.
"We match those two together and we'll get back to the top."
The Roosters will wear yellow socks on Saturday in solidarity with the people of Mullumbimby which was hit by the recent floods and where the club has previously held pre-season camps.
