Questions raised over Hall's season after West Wyalong mishap

Star fullback Nic Hall is facing an extended period on the sidelines after tearing his hip flexor off the bone in the West Wyalong Knockout final last year.

Hall is still waiting to hear if the issue will require surgery.

Regardless he's expected to miss at least the first few months off the season.

"I don't know to what extent yet, I'm still waiting to hear," Hall said.

"I can't really do much about it now but just try to work on it and hopefully get back out there this season."

Hall suffered a hip flexor issue in 2021 but has done a lot more damage this time around.

It's a big blow after putting in some strong performances in the pre-season event.

Hall scored three tries across their first three games at West Wyalong, and set up Young's opening try of the final, before getting caught awkwardly in a tackle.

"I pretty much landed on all fours, so my elbows and knees, and then got landed on top of," he said.

"I did the splits and both my knees went the way they shouldn't.

"The rest of history but it hurt."

Young struggled to recover from that point.

Hall was proven to be one of the most damaging fullbacks in the competition with many of the Cherrypickers attacking plays coming off his work.

The 22-year-old felt he was set up for a big season before the injury occurred.

"My body was feeling good and I was finally feeling injury free and then this happened," Hall said.

New captain-coach Tom Giles is disappointed to be without one of their key players so early in the season.

"It's not looking too good at all," Giles said.

"He's probably one of the most important parts of the side but I'm confident we've got some good depth.

"At the end of the day it's a very big loss to start the year but we will deal with it and we will be right."

Giles will get a taste of their approach without Hall in their trial against Mounties at Alfred Oval on Saturday.

Young recruit Devon Makoare-Boyce will move to fullback after initially being pencilled in as a five-eighth option by his new club.

"Dev is a fullback and has played fullback nearly his whole life," Giles said.

"He's played a little bit of centre and a little bit of six last year but the rest of it he's played fullback.

"He will be fine and he said he would play back there so it will be no dramas there and we've got a lot of depth in the halves so I've go no dramas with Dev playing back there.

"It will do his confidence a world of good too."

After some good performances in the West Wyalong Knockout, Giles expects taking on Mounties will be another good test to see where the club is at.

"It's going to be a big test this week against a good Sydney side so we will know a fair bit after this weekend," he said.