The Greg Horton-led side has been slaving away at Jubilee Oval as part of a rigorous conditioning routine the former Kangaroos’ coach thinks will provide massive benefits for his side.

“Between Rob O’Connor and myself, fitness has been the key,” Horton said.

“We’ve been doing conditioning but also making sure the players are using the ball throughout it. 

“From day one we’ve been handling the ball and now as the games are getting closer, we’ve added contact.”

The endurance training will be put to the test on Saturday as the Wombats play host to Dubbo Kangaroos and Singleton in a series of 20-minute matches.

An early-season trial against Dubbo will be a great test for the Wombats as the Kangaroos have long been one of the top tier’s best sides.

When Horton arrived at Mudgee late last year, he wasn’t sure what the new town would bring and didn’t know how many players he’d have at his disposal for his first year in the role.

“It’s been a bit surprising,” he said.

“Being new to the town, I didn’t know what to expect but we’ve averaged more than 30 at training.”

Although it’d be nice to rank highly in the new competition, Horton hasn’t thought much about where he’d like to finish on the ladder and is taking a one-week-at-a-time approach.

“At this stage it’s a week-to-week thing,” he said. “It’s a new competition and we’re playing some teams we played last year but there are a lot of teams we haven’t played before.

“At this stage it’s about getting fit and developing our team work and hopefully the next step is winning. The first couple of games are really important." The Wombats will have their eyes fixed on a round one home game against Narromine who will move up from the Graincorp Cup in 2018.

“A lot of the guys wouldn’t have played Narromine,” he said. “Traditionally they’re a very hard club to play against.”

The games will kick off at 2pm from lower Jubilee.