"It will be great to have her back, she's such a unique player in what she can bring, the threat she brings. They way she runs on to that ball, creates that flat line attack, and she's got change of direction and speed. Once she starts taking that ball forward at first receiver everyone starts going with her. And then also has the skills to catch and pass under pressure, which is really valuable."

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Australia finished fourth at the NZ Sevens in Hamilton last weekend but are still clinging to second spot on the World Series ladder after beating rivals USA in a fine pool victory on Sunday morning.

Turn overs, some poor individual mistakes and a refereeing blunder, which incorrectly awarded Canada a conversion kick they missed, cost them a spot in the final.

Manenti then rested some of his big guns in the bronze medal match against France, knowing they had done enough to stay in second spot overall.

But the pressure ramps up this week, with the side's only home tournament this year a perfect opportunity to build momentum in the lead in to the Tokyo Olympics in July.

"If we can keep our turnovers and errors down and sharpen up across the park, we'll give ourselves a shot, bearing in mind we have a fairly tough pool, with Ireland, Spain and France."

Alongside Caslick, Sydney fans will have the chance to see strike weapon Ellia Green in action. The Rio gold medallist has taken her game to another level this season and was a genuine match-winner in Hamilton at the weekend.

Fellow Rio alumni Emilee Cherry, Alicia Lucas (nee Quirk), Emma Tonegato and captain Sharni Williams will also be there, plus young excitement machines Faith Nathan and Demi Hayes, who both enjoyed strong tournaments in Hamilton.

In bad news for the Australian men, playmaker Ben O'Donnell looks to have picked up a serious knee injury. It's bad timing for the side, which finished third in Hamilton in a much-needed confidence boost heading into this weekend.

Both sides have to contend with the unpopular format change which has dispensed with the quarter finals for only two of the World Series tournaments (NZ and Sydney) and upped the ante on what is already a cut-throat sport.

"It's harder on the boys because they have more teams than us in their competition, so you have to top your pool or you're out," Manenti said. "At the end of the day, someone else at a higher paygrade to me makes the rules and we have to get on with it. When we go to the Olympics it's knockout and so this tournament is basically the same. I prefer the other format because we're used to it, but it is what it is and in Hamilton we were lucky enough - or we played well enough - to win the pool."