Some of the NRL’s biggest off-season buys set to debut in trials this weekend

FROM Matt Moylan to James Maloney and Ben Hunt — the NRL’s biggest off-season buys will make their club debuts in trials this weekend.

The NRL’s biggest buys are set to make the club debuts in trial matches.

FROM Matt Moylan to James Maloney and Ben Hunt — the NRL’s biggest off-season buys will make their club debuts in trials this weekend.

With the regular season only four weeks away, a star-studded list of the game’s best recruits will receive valuable game time to prepare.

At Cronulla, Matt Moylan will debut for the Sharks against Manly at Southern Cross Group Stadium on Saturday night.

Moylan is expected to play reduced minutes at five-eighth in a Cronulla side that will rest Josh Dugan, Paul Gallen, Matt Prior, Andrew Fifita, Wade Graham and Luke Lewis.

Fellow recruit Trent Hodkinson is also set to see minutes against the Sea Eagles.

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Matt Moylan will run out for Cronulla against Manly. (Brett Costello)

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan is particularly excited to see Moylan in action following a strong summer from the former Penrith skipper.

“Matty has trained really well in the off-season and we are looking forward to seeing how he goes in the first contact match playing us,” Flanagan said.

“He can strike up a combination with a few of the boys and it will be good him.”

Flanagan revealed the Sharks will also conduct a scrimmage against English Super League side Wigan at Southern Cross Group Stadium on Wednesday.

He said all his stars would partake in the practice match versus the Warriors, which will kick-off at 5pm.

“Wigan are staying in Coogee and they wanted to use our facilities to train, so we are going to jump on the back of that and do a scrimmage against them,” he said.

“We struck up a bit of a relationship with them last year when we played in the World Club Challenge, so it will be a good opportunity to practice some of the things we’ve been working on in the off-season against some quality opposition.

“It can get a bit hard to scrimmage internally, because the players know what we are trying to achieve.

“So I think both teams will get a bit of a benefit out of that.”

St George Illawarra buys Ben Hunt and James Graham will play against Hull FC at ANZ Stadium on Saturday.

Dragons coach Paul McGregor told The Daily Telegraph he expects Graham and Hunt to see “some time” versus their English rivals.

Penrith recruit James Maloney will get his first start. (Dylan Robinson)

Former Sharks playmaker James Maloney will make his maiden appearance for Penrith against the Sydney Roosters on Saturday night.

Maloney is pencilled in to play restricted minutes versus a Roosters side that is likely to be without big name buys Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco.

Elsewhere, watch for ex-Dog Josh Reynolds to debut for the Wests Tigers against a full-strength North Queensland side in Cairns on Saturday.

Former Manly, Parramatta and Warriors playmaker Kieran Foran will appear in Canterbury colours for the first time against Canberra on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday night.

Foran will play halfback alongside Matt Frawley in the halves, while Moses Mbye will don the fullback jumper.

Fellow Bulldogs buy Aaron Woods won’t travel to the Sunshine Coast due to hamstring soreness.

Originally published as Some of the NRL’s biggest off-season buys set to debut in trials this weekend