Newcastle Rugby League: Souths, Central poised for a 72-hour turnaround

Last year's grand finalists Souths, following a bye and wash out, opened their campaign with a 56-14 thrashing of visitors Kurri Kurri while Central comfortably accounted for Macquarie 38-10 at St John Oval on the same afternoon.

"We came through pretty good, couple of little bumps and bruises but no major injuries that I know of," Souths coach Andrew Ryan told the Newcastle Herald.

"We'll train tomorrow [Saturday] and reassess fully in the morning, but ideally the majority of our 17 will try and play again."

Central coach Adam Bettridge held a similar view for his undefeated squad.

"Most of the boys did recovery this morning [Friday] so they're all fine and they'll all back up and play again on Sunday," he said.

"There's a good vibe around the club and just another challenge for the young playing group."

Townson Oval will be the venue on Sunday (3pm).

The other postponed match has Macquarie meeting Northern Hawks at Lyall Peacock Field in the same timelsot.

Also in round three Lakes host Wyong and Maitland visit Wests, both on Sunday.

Thursday's late clash saw Cook Islands representative Alvin Maungaati bag a hat-trick in Cessnock's 44-6 demolition of the Hawks.