Roughy, you really are showing a lack of knowledge of the game here. In this day and age, trials are done this way. I went to an NRL trial this year, the game before the season proper and both the sharks and Manly had a squad of about 30 players each and they all got game time. At one point, both coaches made around 10 changes. Cronulla won the trial, but only because they had their best players on for longer. The time when it was top 13 v top 13 Manly won. That's what the coaches look at.
Why put Widdop at fullback you ask? There must be a concern around Tomkins physically (might be an injury, they might be thinking of resting him for periods) and McNamara wants to experiment with what he does if he has to come off. These games are about those scenarios, rather than the result.
