BLACK and Whites captain-coach David Milne is set to make his return from a hamstring strain tomorrow night against the Leeton Greens.

Milne hasn't played since Griffith's round 2 loss to Yenda and was forced to withdraw from the Group 20 representative squad due to the injury.

He told The Area News he was thrilled to be done with coaching from the sideline, but regrets having to miss the Maurice Kelly Cup clash in Wagga on Saturday.

"I was really looking forward to playing that game but if you can't do it, you can't do it," Milne said.

"I was trying to come back for that one but I just wasn't ready to go.

"I didn't want to risk it and I didn't want to play below my best, especially if it meant someone else would miss the game (for my sake)."

Milne's return means the Black and Whites will inch closer to fielding a full-strength side at EW Moore Oval against the winless Greens.

While TJ Mataa and Clinton Lilo are still out through injury, pack leader Jericho Tanuvasa is starting to hit top form after overcoming his own fitness concerns.

But it will take a lot more than that for Griffith to repair the defensive problems that led to Sunday's disappointing 52-30 loss to Hay.

"We were terrible, honestly," he said.

"That's probably the worst defensive game we've had all year.

"We scored 30 points and really, you should be winning games if you're doing that.

"We started well but just got cocky and everything went to mud.

"Defence is an attitude thing, and we didn't have the right attitude."

Leeton was on the cusp of a maiden win for the year on Sunday but was pipped at the death by the DPC Roosters, who won 30-28.

Despite the result, coach Franky Fiumara was a happy man after the final siren and said last year's reigning premiers were finally on the right track.

The Greens have named another youthful line-up for tomorrow night's match with rookie Tristin Johnston again set to start on the wing after impressing against the Point.