The St George Illawarra Dragons Junior Representative teams will play their respective first pre-season trials this Saturday.
The St George Dragons SG Ball (U18) and Harold Matthews Cup (U16) teams will take on their Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles counterparts at Norford Park, Sefton.
Dragons Harold Matthews Cup Coach Graeme Wynn is looking forward to seeing his new charges take to the field after a solid pre-season to date.
"The upcoming pre-season fixture will give both teams a terrific opportunity to see where we're at prior to the Christmas break,” said Wynn.
“We've had six weeks of solid training and it will be a good gauge of who has been working the hardest as well as who is most likely to make our final squads.
“We may make some cuts to our squads after this trial so all the players will be hoping to be able to put their best foot forward to impress.
“The Sea Eagles have already completed another pre-Xmas trial, so it will be really interesting to see how our young players go against a quality Junior Rep team in Manly.”
Harold Matthews are first on the field at 9.00am with the SG Ball following at 10.45am.
Additionally, the Illawarra Steelers SG Ball (U18) and Harold Matthews Cup (U16) teams will take the field for the first time against the Canberra Raiders at Workers Arena, Goulburn.
Both teams head into the trial with approximately 35 players, giving coaches plenty of opportunity to test the players before cutting down their final squad of 25 in early 2015.
In the coaching department, Shane Millard returns to take charge of the SG Ball team while Adam Blake is the new Harold Matthews coach.
With three more trials to follow in the New Year, a good performance from the young men on Saturday will ensure they remain in contention for a spot come round one.
The Raiders have the luxury of already playing a trial last weekend so the extra week will mean the Steelers juniors have a test on their hands.
Harold Matthews are first on the field at 10.30am with the SG Ball following at 12.15pm.
