Joeys’ first XV co-coach Tim Andersen is hoping depth will help his team rise to the top of the GPS premiership in 2022.

Following last year’s Covid cancelled season, Joeys have trained with a bigger squad than usual throughout the trial period, to allow the coaches to take a look at as many players as possible ahead of round one on June 18.

“It’s been a fairly disjointed preseason again for everyone I think. There was Covid initially, then all the bad weather then this flu that has knocked a lot of people around,” the coach told Rugby News.

“We had a camp up at Tamworth and we took 55 boys up there and it was a really productive week. Because of all the disruptions, it’s allowed us to get a good look at a lot of different players through the trial period, so that’s been a real positive.