WARRINGTON Wolves' pre-season trial game against South Sydney Rabbitohs achieved its purpose as far as coach Darryl Van de Velde is concerned.

As well as the game generating much-needed income at this quiet time of year, Van de Velde was keen to blood his youngsters and build their experience.

He said: "I thought some of the young players came through it well and that was the point of the exercise."

The abilities of prop Paul Wood, hooker Mark Gleeson, plus wingers Jamie Stenhouse and David Campbell have already been tested at Super League level and Van de Velde is hoping that others will make the step next year.

He highlighted two, saying: "Andy Barr and Steve Maden gained some good experience on Sunday and it gives them an opportunity to train hard in the pre-season and push up for a spot in the Super League later in the year."

One of the most pleasing aspects of the weekend's Wolves performance was keeping the try line a Sydney-free zone.

Van de Velde said: "We set the target at half-time to nil South Sydney.

"The boys applied themselves really well. We had a lot of pressure thrown at us in the first 10 minutes of the second half with 18 tackles at us. Obviously, we held them out with some good defence on the line."

Van de Velde also saw plenty of areas to work on. He said: "Vision off the ball and some of our running lines weren't that good and our kicking can improve."