Richards will play just his second game in almost a decade at Equex Centre.

Part of Blues premierships in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2010, the speedster coached the club to a preliminary final in 2011 but hasn't played in seven years.

The 37-year-old made a short-lived comeback in 2016, playing one game for the club, but will start on the wing against Kangaroos.

With Austin McDougall unavailable with work commitments, Blues co-coach Dean Bristow thought he was the ideal replacement after playing reserve grade last week.

"It's fallen into place," Bristow said.

"We tried to get him last week but he wanted a game under his belt.

"He got through the game fine and with Austin working it works out well this week."

Tumut lost a number of back line options from the side who downed Southcity to win their first title since 2010.

However Bristow was thrilled to see Richards turn up at training at the start of the year.

"There's a wealth of experience he brings with him," Bristow said.

"He's probably one of the best players I've seen put on a jersey for Tumut.

"He brings plenty of experience and to be honest I don't think he's lost a great deal over the years either."

Bristow admitted Richards was one of his idols growing up in Tumut and he's excited to see what he can bring to the side after a 16-all draw with Gundagai to start their title defence.

The return of Richards is the only change for Tumut.

With Kangaroos featuring a new-look line up, Bristow isn't sure what to make of them and instead is looking to improve on their showing against Gundagai.

"I don't know a great deal about them to be honest, they are a bit of the unknown to me," he said.

"We've identified some areas where we were lacking in parts of the game last week and we'll wholly and solely focus on us to rectify those issues.

"I'm pretty confident that if we can, and we do them well, we will find ourselves in the winners' stall."

Bristow wants to see the side's shapes improve with a game under their belts and hopes for an improved kicking game.

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