Luke Ingram made an enormous impression in his first game last week in the club's gutsy 28-all draw on the road to premiers Gundagai.

At 195cms and 105kgs, Ingram is a giant lock forward - even by NRL standards.

"I just came up here to try and better my footy," he said.

"I had a mate come for pre-season, so I thought I'd give it a crack."

The 21-year-old has progressed quickly, coming off the bench for Riverina against NRL outfit South Sydney in February.

"It's a higher standard here," Ingram said when comparing the Riverina-based Group Nine to Group 16, which is centred around the Far South Coast of NSW.

"It's more direct over here, so it's probably easier to play.

"At Bombala you run around doing everything, but here you have a role and you stick to it."

The Thunder's performance against the Tigers grabbed the attention of the competition after a series of narrow losses cost the Border outfit a spot in last year's finals.

It's a rugged pack, led by props Brad Hill and Brad Nicholson, and it will be even stronger against Brothers with the return of 2016 best and fairest Jon Huggett.

The back-row, in particular, looks awesome with rising star Liam Wiscombe and Ingram joining Huggett

It means former NRL player Etu Uaisele will move back to the centres.

"We'd have one of the best forward packs in the group I'd say," Ingram said of the bruising combination.

"We just try to win the ruck (area), have big strong carries and get them on the back foot and let the backs do the rest.

"We stuck it to them (Gundagai), no one expected us to get that result and, in the end, we should have won."

Thunder's pack will look to trample its opponents this season, allowing halves Robbie Byatt and coach Adrian Purtell the time to work the team's attack.

Brothers lost their first game, albeit by only two points against Tumut.

The visitors are without fullback Cade Price with a hamstring complaint, while five-eighth Dylan McLachlan and second-rower Ben Schreiber are also batting the injury.

And in a further blow, Ingram's fellow Riverina forward James Hay is also out with injury.

Brothers' injuries though will mean little to the Thunder, given those close games, falling by 10 points or less in eight matches, and the fact it hasn't played finals since 2016.

Greenfield Park will host the match from 2.35pm.