Willis among new faces as Diesels add more depth to back line

After signing on during the week, former Australian sevens captain Stu Dunbar was among many of their new faces for the Diesels on Friday night.

Prolific tryscorer Damian Willis also played his first game for the club since 2012 while brothers Cade and Edan Price have made the move from Brothers.

Junee fell to a 14-0 loss to last year's Canberra Raiders Cup grand finalists Tuggeranong, who were subsequently beaten by Young in the quarter-finals.

The Diesels struggled to create a lot of opportunities in the clash while some poor discipline didn't help either.

However new captain-coach Daniel Foley still thought it was a good hit out for the side.

"We didn't get a whole lot of footy, and basically spent the whole game of footy defending but it's probably not that bad of a thing for us," Foley said.

"We've done barely any ball work, as we've been trying to work on our fitness a fair bit in the pre-season, so it wasn't too bad."

After signing on as an assistant coach, Willis stopped short of signalling a full-time return to the field after stepping away from the sport following Gundagai's unbeaten premiership in 2022.

However he didn't discount it either.

"I'm not really too sure in terms of first grade but I'm probably looking to play the majority of reserve grade and maybe sit on the bench for first grade at the moment," Willis said.

"We and Fole have spoken about it but we've signed a few people over the last couple of weeks which makes it easier for me to take a back seat.

"I was a late inclusion on Friday night at West Wyalong as our centre James Strickland had an abscess on his tooth.

"I was coming off the bench anyway but I wasn't sure if I was going to play many minutes at all but the body felt good and footy is footy.

"Being 40 it was a bit tough but I keep myself pretty fit."

The Price brothers are set to return to rugby league after not playing last year.

Junee president David Holt expects they will add some spark out wide.

"They just turned up at training and wanted to play for the Diesels and you're not going to knock them back," Holt said.

"Cade and Edan are pretty good and out wide is one area where we were lacking a little bit depth wise.

"We've got talent there but needed a little more depth and they will add that little bit of spark out wide."

Warren Lloyd is also back at the club while the Diesels have brought in Joel Munro, Tim Crellin and Pete Adam while Chase Bernard and Ben Shea are set to arrive from France mid-season.

Holt is confident the signings will have the club well within their player points index allocation but expects it will take some time to really come together.

"It's going to take a little while for us to gel together but it was a good hit out," he said.