Port Macquarie Dolphins coach Mark Champion doesn’t see it that way as he aims to prepare his side as best as he can for their season opener in four weeks time.

Only Jake Wallis, Lance Guild and Josh Minihan remain from the team who finished mid-table last season.

Wallis and Minihan will play in this weekend’s three-way trial against Coffs Harbour and Newcastle as Guild recovers from injury.

They are two games Champion says will have more meaning than a traditional trial.

“We want to get a handle on where we’re at because we’ve got four weeks until the start of the season,” he said.

“We have to work out who fills what role because then it will allow us to plan for that over the next month.

“This weekend will have a bit more meaning for us, whereas Coffs and Newcastle are at that level where they know where they’re at and they just need to fine tune things.”

Champion admitted the matches were an “opportunity to put things to the test in a real environment”.

“We have a lot of players who have never played state league before, so it’s about getting them up to the speed of the game,” he said.

Wallis, Minihan and Guild will be vital players for Champion in the upcoming season with Port Macquarie expected to field an inexperienced side.

Champion said there was the danger the trio could run the risk of trying too hard.

“We had a trial against the under-18s a few weeks ago and a couple of those boys who came back were guilty of trying to do too much,” he said.

“We need to get them working as a team because that’s far more important than anyone trying to do everything themselves.”