Manly coach Geoff Toovey is confident veteran prop Jason King and former NSW winger David Williams will be fit to face South Sydney in Friday’s NRL clash at Gosford.

The pair both missed Saturday’s thrilling 23-22 golden point defeat to Melbourne but will be named to face the Rabbitohs after recovering from knee and pectoral injuries, respectively, on Tuesday.

However, the Sea Eagles will be without fullback Brett Stewart who’s set for a spell on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring at Brookvale Oval against the Storm.

“He’s got a slight strain or tear, but he should be back within a week or two,” Toovey said on Tuesday.

“But David Williams will be back this week which is a real bonus for us and we are hopeful after a couple of fitness tests Jason King will be back as well.”

Toovey said there were no recriminations among the playing squad after they gave up a 20-0 lead against the Storm before going down to a Cameron Smith field goal in the 84th minute of the game.

But he said the players were fully aware they threw away the two points to one of their most bitter rivals.

“The players know that we lost it rather than Melbourne won it,” he said.

“We were our own worst enemies but we made poor choices.”

Toovey has been a critic of rule changes over the years in the NRL, this season’s raft of changes including limiting gang tackles, an extra tackle from 20-metre re-starts and giving captains specified times when they can confer with the referees – all seemingly designed to speed up the game.

While Toovey said he’d yet to see any evidence to suggest the game was quicker he admitted the referees seemed to be busier than ever.

“It seems to be very much a forward, dummy-half running game,” he said.

“I think it will change, when the players and referees get used to the rule changes it will settle down.

“I don’t think it’s any quicker than before, the 19 penalties given in our game didn’t seem to make it any quicker as well.”