Cleary pleased with physical standard in trial win

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was satisfied with his side's physical standards in their 32-4 trial win over the Wests Tigers on Saturday night.

Cleary has some food for thought ahead of the squad's final trial against Parramatta in Bega next week after promising performances from several players left him conceding his round one side was "definitely not rubberstamped".

Among the positions remaining in question is the halves, with Jarome Luai showing glimpses of brilliance, and Matt Burton and Tyrone May offering strong showings against the Tigers.

Panthers back-rower Isaah Yeo also made a successful return from a shoulder surgery to play around 50 minutes.

"This time of the year the first thing you look for is physically. Last week at the Nines I was happy with how we looked there and tonight was no different," Cleary said post-game.

"It justifies what you've done in the pre-season so that was good. A few of the guys got an opportunity tonight and followed the script early."

The Panthers and Wests Tigers arm-wrestled to a 4-4 scoreline at halftime before both sides took key players from the field. Cleary's men then fired in five tries in the second half.

"The aim we had was to try to get some rhythm into the game," Cleary said.

"I thought the first half was good for both teams because there weren't many stoppages. I thought our guys physically looked good in that period."

Cleary will take his strongest possible squad to Bega next week including Caleb Aekins, who missed the clash through the birth of his first child on Saturday.

Cleary was confident Aekins would only need 80 minutes next week to cement the No.1 jersey with limited options available.

"He's been there before, he was going to play tonight, I don't know the answer but he's the back-up fullback," Cleary said.

"There's a few options we can consider ... going to go into next week. It's a long year and hopefully it can work itself out. Next week is really important."

Meanwhile, Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire saw enough positives despite the result blowing out in the second half. 

Maguire rested several first-team regulars late in the game as the Panthers ran away with the result. 

"I was pleased with the first half but there's still plenty to work on," Maguire said. 

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"I thought people like Zane Musgrove and Billy Walters performed at a high level for their first hit-out with the club. 

"The second half we were off by a fair way. I was very purposely giving everyone at the club a run at this level and then next week I'll take a squad of 23 to Rotorua so I'll be narrowing it down."

Maguire said new signing Adam Doueihi pulled up OK despite leaving the field and icing an upper leg injury.