South Sydney coach Michael Maguire will give winger Nathan Merritt until the last minute to prove his fitness as he attempts to make a belated start to his 2012 NRL campaign.

Merritt has been sidelined since injuring his toe in the All-Stars clash in February, but returned to play half a game for the club’s NSW Cup side on the weekend.

Maguire said he would be named in the squad to play North Queensland on Saturday, but a final decision on his availability is still pending.

‘”I’ll be able to tell you at the end of the week,” Maguire said when asked if Merritt would play.

“He’s coming through training at the moment so hopefully we can get him right.

“He’s got an unusual injury … it’s one that we just have to monitor each day and when the end of the week comes we’ll decide then.”

Merritt was expected to take the No.1 jumper for the Bunnies this year, but the switch of Greg Inglis to fullback will see him return to the wing position he has occupied for the majority of his NRL career.

Maguire said last year’s equal-leading tryscorer was desperate to get back on the field.

“He’s pretty excited – he got through half a game on the weekend and came through that really well,” Maguire said.

“You can see why he scored the amount of tries he did score last year because he just roams around near the ball and just pops up at the right time.

“He did that last weekend and hopefully we can have that this weekend.”

AAP sj/bh/