The Wellington Wedgetails might not have the luxury of watching their big-name star run at this year's Koori Knockout.
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But it isn't stopping them from backing themselves to take the competition out.
The Wedgetails are busy preparing for the annual knockout, this year to be held on the Central Coast but the Wellington-based club won't have their biggest name.
Wests Tigers outside back Brent Naden is a regular at the knockout for the Wedgetails but won't line up for the side on the long weekend.
"Brent Naden he is usually our big name but he is injured," Wedgetails' Roy Bell said.
"We've got a few blokes like Tristan Lumley who is up in QLD, DJ Goolagong and Wes Connellan who are sort of the older heads of the team.
"They've played a lot of representative stuff so hopefully they can lead us around."
With a host of current and former NRL stars set to run out in the competition, the Wedgetails will instead rely on local talents from the Wellington Cowboys and other areas.
Bell said there is no denying Naden is a big exclusion but there is still a lot to like about the squad they have put together.
"We have got a really strong side, a lot of our blokes are either from Wellington or have an association with the town," he said.
"We are trying to keep that core group together, it probably makes it a lot easier when the Cowboys are going and the boys in comps like Newcastle who are associated with Wellington are doing good as well."
The club will also have an under 13s, under 17s and women's side feature at the four-day competition, a testament to how popular the event is among the Wellington community.
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As someone who has played in his fair share of knockout competitions before, Bell confessed it is always a special time of year.
"Growing up that was my highlight, you'd look forward to playing," he said.
"I'm a little bit too old before the juniors came around but as a man, you'd look forward to it for the whole year.
"As soon as it ends, you'd start again. It's starting to be a year-round thing now."
The annual Koori Knockout will be held at the Central Coast Regional Sporting and Recreation Complex at Tuggerah.
The event kicks off on Friday before concluding on Monday.
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