IT may have taken longer than he had hoped but Group Seven product Drew Hutchison will make his long-awaited Sydney Roosters debut this Sunday against the Penrith Panthers at Panthers Stadium.
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The Albion Park-Oak Flats junior, who played four NRL games with St George Illawarra between 2015 and 2017 before chalking up 35 caps with Leigh in England, will start at five-eighth for the round 13 match.
So far this season, Hutchison has helped the North Sydney Bears into third position on the Canterbury Cup ladder, with seven wins and four losses to their names - including a last up 24-14 win against Mounties.
Hutchison will be joined in the halves by the returning Cooper Cronk, with the rest of the backline being made up by James Tedesco, Daniel Tupou, Latrell Mitchell, Joseph Manu and Matt Ikuvalu
While the starting forward pack will feature Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Victor Radley, Siosiua Taukeiaho, Boyd Cordner, Angus Crichton and Isaac Liu - with Nat Butcher, Zane Tetevano, Sitili Tupouniua and Mitchell Aubusson starting on the bench.
Kick-off for the match between the third placed Roosters and 14th placed Panthers is at 4.05pm.