TEMORA'S own Ryan Hinchcliffe will lead Melbourne Storm out in his Riverina homecoming against Canberra Raiders in Griffith on Saturday night.

With the absence of the Storm's Test players, Hinchcliffe will be Melbourne's most experienced player when they play their first trial of the pre-season against the Raiders at EW Moore Oval.

Hinchcliffe last played in the Riverina in a trial game at Albury in 2012 and cannot wait to get back and play in front of his home fans.

"Absolutely, we play a few trials around the place but I haven't played in Group Nine for a while," Hinchcliffe said.

"It's always good to get back there and play, I don't think the NRL does enough for the bush so it's good when we do get the opportunity to bring the game out there.

"The people love it so it's good for everyone."

Hinchcliffe, 30, may be experienced but he said there is plenty to look forward to in trial games.

"For us, just to play and try to put the things we've practiced into place into an actual football game is good," he said.

"It's one thing to do it at training, but to actually go out and do it against opposition is another thing altogether.

"It's about testing ourselves against good opposition."

Melbourne were knocked out of the premiership race last season in the first week of finals when they were smashed 28-4 by the Bulldogs.

Hinchcliffe is confident this year's Storm outfit will improve on that effort.

"Last season we were really up and down," he said.

"We had a quite good finish to the year until unfortunately the last game against Bulldogs.

"We've had a good look at ourselves because we needed to and things have been addressed standards wise that we had to.

"I've got no doubt we'll improve and now we get the chance to test ourselves out against opposition and that's why we're looking forward to Saturday night."

The Storm will arrive in Griffith on Friday and hold an opening training session at 3pm.

They will also hold a signing session on Saturday morning before the big game at 6pm.

NRL in Griffith

Saturday at EW Moore Oval

1pm: Gates open

1.30pm: Junior non-competitive games

3pm: Riverina Academy under 16s v Western Academy under 16s

4.15pm: Riverina Academy under 17s v Western Academy under 17s

6pm: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm