The reigning Blowes Clothing Cup premiers welcomed Shammies to Endeavour Oval with a focus on giving those newcomers a chance to shine, along with rising stars from last year's undefeated, title-winning Under 18 side too.

With a number of top-grade regulars rested or unavailable, Emus second grade co-coach Matt Campbell said the trial also proved a great chance for he and fellow mentors to take stock of the club's potential depth this year.

Emus ran away with the first of two trials and convincingly beat a mix of Petersham's lower grade sides before facing a combination of the Sydney club's top grades, the visitors winning that second trial four tries to one.

"It was very useful for us, it was always going to be because Petersham are a very strong club, their top grade side has won a few premierships recently so it was never going to be easy, even being a trial," Campbell said.

"Obviously they ran a mixture of their grades and so did we, it gave us a good look at some of the guys who have joined the club this year and, just as importantly, we were able to see how much a few Under 18 players have developed since last year.

"There's obviously a lot of things we need to work on from the trial, particularly ball retention, but considering it was a first hit-out we were pretty impressed. It looks like we'll have a lot of depth this year, particularly through the backline."

NSW Country halfback Shahid Khalfan shone in his first appearance for Emus while Digby Cooper, the cornerstone of the club's undefeated, title-winning Under 18 side in 2020, were strong as well.

Speedster Jake Ritchie was another to make his mark, on the wing, while former Central North winger Oscar Hunt impressed as well, suggesting there'll be plenty of competition for spots in Emus' already star-studded outside backs.

"Oscar Hunt, he was particularly impressive," Campbell said.

"We'd already been really impressed with him at training and he's come from representative rugby in Gunnedah, so he was certainly already on everyone's radar.

"There was a handful of the usual suspects who impressed as well - Nigel Staniforth, Tom Joseph, Jack Marchinton and Jamil Khalfan were all strong as usual.

"Obviously you always have to take trial games with a grain of salt, but there's good signs so far."

The Petersham sides that turned out at Endeavour Oval also featured former CSU Bathurst, Central West and NSW Country fullback Lochie Robinson, who scored one of the better individual tries you'd hope to see.

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