NSW Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson on Thursday named a young squad ahead of Saturday’s trial with the ACT Brumbies at Mudgee’s Glen Willow.

With Dave Dennis and Wycliff Palu drawing the curtain on their careers and sans the side’s Wallabies – Gibson made it clear he wasn’t picking players only in the early stages of their pre-season – NSW will look to kick-off its pre-season in positive fashion with a host of fresh faces keen to impress.

And Gibson is confident the players he’s named will do just that.

“The 37 players we’ve got here are all at different time lines of pre-season,” Gibson said at Lake Burrendong.

“The plan is to give as much time as possible to the guys who have been training for eight to nine weeks and earned that time.

“We’re expecting a tough encounter (with the Brumbies). That’s exactly what we need. We’ve giving younger players a decent amount of time to see what they can do.”

Gibson’s squad has been touring the central west in the lead-up to the trial at Mudgee, with clinics at Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo before Friday’s sessions at Glen Willow.

The Tahs also spent three days at Lake Burrendong to jam “plenty of rugby material” into the squad in what is a limited preparation for the 2017 Super Rugby season.

“It’s been great, we’re thrilled with the facility here,” Gibson said at the Lake.

“It’s perfect for a rugby team and we’re really grateful that the facility updated the oval for us and we’ll have an excellent week ahead.

“I’ve seen new parts of NSW, it’s fantastic. It’s ideal here, it’s got everything we need. We’re privileged to be here.

“For us, it’s the perfect opportunity to bond as a team, get closer and then lay the foundations of our team.

“We pile a lot of rugby content into the boys too. With the limited preparation time this year we’ve had two or three weeks with the Wallabies and we’ve got to maximise the time we have as a group, it’s 24-7.”

Gibson added he was thrilled with the welcome his side had been given by the region, and particularly Mudgee.

“The support we have had for this pre-season game is amazing, from the Mudgee Council and Chamber of Commerce right through to the Mudgee Wombats.  We are expecting a big atmosphere on game day,” he said.

After a stand out 2016 season, Gibson announced Jack Dempsey as the Captain for the game against ACT Brumbies this weekend.

Kick-off is at 6pm, the curtain raiser – the Central West Blue Bulls against the NSW Gen Blues – kicks off at 3.55pm.

WARATAHS: 1 Tom Robertson, 2 Hugh Roach, 3 David Lolohea, 4 Ned Hanigan, 5 Senio Toleafoa, 6 Jack Dempsey, 7 Brad Wilkin, 8 Michael Wells, 9 Jake Gordon, 10 Mack Mason, 11 Harry Jones, 12 David Horwitz, 13 Irae Simone, 14 Reece Robinson, 15 Bryce Hegarty, 16 Tolu Latu, 17 Damien Fitzpatrick, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Sam Needs, 20 David McDuling, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 Andrew Deegan, 23 Andrew Kellaway, 27 Ryan McCauley, 28 Jamason Schultz, 30 Con Foley, 31 Maclean Jones.