In a match where no official score was recorded, the Sharks ran in four tries to three in their final hitout before an opening round Group 3 clash with Port City on April 7.

The performances of lock Brandon Phelan and teenage hooker Zac Flanagan gave Kirkland some food for thought over the next two weeks.

"Brandon came to us from Wauchope and has played well in every trial for us," he said.

"Zac carved them up out of dummy half and came up with five or six clean breaks when he was out there."

The Sharks will field a largely inexperienced, youthful side in 2019 and Kirkland said it was important to be patient.

"(Saturday) was about giving the young fellas some game time because we're going to have a young group this season," he said.

"Eventually the club has to move on and we want to give these young blokes a crack.

"I need to be patient with them, but we also don't want to give ourselves a lot of work to do in the back half of the season."

While they were "sloppy" in attack, the Sharks were solid in defence.

"Defensively we have been pretty good in every trial and teams have been kicking from their own half," Kirkland said.

"Tries have been scored against us mainly from making errors in our own end and we've been paying for it."

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