Cutters prop Rulon Nutira hopes a reunion with longtime mate and Kiwi international Russell Packer will be the spark to ignite his quest for an NRL debut in 2015.

Packer played his first game of rugby league in almost two years in the Cutters' 26-10 loss to Newtown two weeks ago, four months after being freed from jail where he spent a year for violently assaulting a man in late 2013. It was the first step in what he hopes will be a return to the NRL with the Dragons but it appears likely he will have to bide his time in NSW Cup for the remainder of the season.

Nutira - whose friendship with Packer extends back a decade to their time as room-mates with the Junior Kiwis - is confident his mate is a reformed character.

"You live and you learn and he's turned his life around big time," he said.

"I've noticed it and I think everyone else has as well. It's for the better. People make mistakes but it's about how you learn from them and bounce back and he's certainly doing that.

"In 2005, we were in the Junior Kiwis team together. We've always been in touch since and he's a good mate of mine. We've had a few training sessions together, just the two of us, since he came back on board and he's a good bloke to follow.

"He's an international and has plenty of experience, so I'm hoping to rub shoulders with him a lot more and get better as a footballer."

Nutira has shared the paddock with numerous class players since joining the Dragons' full-time squad in October last year and, while Red V fans would love to see the prospective cult figure take the paddock, the man himself never expected to walk straight into the top grade.

"I've kept close with Mary [coach Paul McGregor] and he's told me the areas I need to improve on," Nutira said.

"When I first met him he told me that I needed a good season in reserve grade to get my feet running and get back into this level of footy.

"I'm just taking it as it comes."

With Packer added to a front-row arsenal that includes twin towers Nutira and Rory O'Brien and 2014 Player of the Year Shannon Wakeman, the former Gundagai abattoir worker says the quartet must lift, starting with Saturday's clash with Manly at WIN Stadium.

"We've talked about it among ourselves and we need to step up for the Cutters to start winning some games," Nutira said.

"We all expect better, we've got a top-class line-up but it's still a long season to make the top eight. We need to be winning games with the Cutters to be looked at to go into first grade, so we need to dominate."