How Taaffe and Tracey go in pre-season will be factors as well. And possibly Wilson, Skelton too.
Eels & Sharks are not really the best games to test whether someone is ready or not.
A good point was made earlier in this thread that coaches will not have an idea how Xerri will handle all the physical demands of playing at top level every week, etc until he has actually played for a couple of weeks, even if in NSW cup.
If Xerri is not ready then he will be tested & found out.
So with some depth in outside backs why take a risk?
Most people consider Cronulla will finish in the 8, Parramatta about 50/50, so it would seem to me that they are pretty decent teams to trial against.
I alway find it strange that all so often on here it is said that NSW Cup is miles below NRL standard and just because a players goes OK there doesn't mean that they will be any good in NRL. Yet some think that testing a player's ability to handle "physical demands" can be done in a NSW Cup game, very strange.
If I wanted to test out a player's ability to withstand the physical demands of an NRL game then I would have them play every minute of an NRL trial, that's a better indication than a NSW Cup Game. If there is any doubt then do it again for the second trial, if they can play every minute of that game then that's far better testing than a couple of NSW Cup games.
Time will tell, so far Xerri has ticked every box that the coaching staff has thrown at him, if they decide he is ready for Round 1 then so be it.
Always a Bulldog