Manly forward Anthony Watmough has declared himself a certain starter for Saturday night’s qualifying final against the Sydney Roosters as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.

Watmough has been sidelined the past few weeks after aggravating an existing knee complaint in the round 23 loss to South Sydney.

But in resuming training on Tuesday, the New South Wales Origin representative said nothing was going to stop him playing in his side’s opening finals encounter.

“A couple of weeks off has really freshened me up and I’m really hungry and ready to go,” Watmough said.

“No doubt, I’ll be playing.”

Asked about the prospect of taking a needle to help him get through the match, Watmough said: “I don’t know.

“Today will be the first day I have run since it’s happened and we’ll get a judge off that.

“If I have to needle it, and so be it, if it’s going to get me through the game.”

While Watmough took part in training fullback Brett Stewart was a notable absentee, with coach Geoff Toovey saying he would wait until later in the week before making a final call on his availability.