SAINTS boss Kristian Woolf has explained how he will use his full squad in the first and last trial games of the weekend.

He will select his strongest squad available for Sunday’s Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook testimonial game against relegated London, with the rest of the squad going to play at Oldham the night before.

It will ensure that all the players get sufficient game minutes under their belts ahead of the Super League opener against Salford on 31 January.

Having had the benefit of a week of warm-weather training in Tenerife, Woolf says it is now important to put that into action

He said: “We are going to have 17 or 18 fresh guys who will play for Louis testimonial, everyone else in the squad will get a run at Oldham the night before.

“The thought process is everyone is going to get an opportunity to play some real minutes and show what they have built into their game in the pre-season.

“A few of the guys who play at Oldham will get the opportunity to back-up the day after with some limited minutes.”

Although it is a testimonial game, it is being treated as a serious match – Woolf’s first in charge – and that will be reflected in the selection and how the afternoon pans out.

“It is a big night for Louie – and we want to celebrate that - but at the same time it’s our one and only trial and we want blokes to get in some real match fitness, and we want to put some things into place that we have worked on in the pre-season,” he said.

London defeated Saints twice in the capital last year and Woolf expects them to come up to play.

“It is no secret that we are going to have a target on our heads with everyone this year.

“Everyone will come here and want to play their absolute best because we won the comp last year.

“Sunday is a good starting point and they will come here and really want to challenge us,” he said.

In a further injury update, Morgan Knowles is looking to be cleared this year for full contact training which will put him in a good position to play in round one.

However, Tommy Makinson is touch and go for round one, but Woolf said if does miss that his return won’t be too behind that.