Star Cronulla recruit Ben Barba made his return to Sydney on Saturday at the inauspicious venue of Pittwater Park as the Sharks went down 42-22 in their NRL trial match against Manly.

In his unofficial Sharks debut, Barba created a try for winger Jacob Gagan with a pinpoint cross-field kick and combined with Anthony Tupou to put on a four-pointer for Michael Gordon.

The former Canterbury then Brisbane back played close to 30 minutes and always looked likely in a busy performance.

Winger Gagan was a standout for the Sharks and completed his double by diving on a Brett Stewart kick before sprinting 60 metres to score.

Most of the Manly stars, including Daly Cherry-Evans and Jamie Lyon, played a little over a quarter of the match as coach Geoff Toovey rotated his squad heavily.

Veteran prop Willie Mason has impressed for the Sea Eagles, proving he still has plenty to offer in 2015.

The 34-year-old scored a try and was damaging in attack and defence in his 20-minute cameo.

Young Eagles rake Jayden Hodges did his chances of a first-grade spot no harm with a strong all-round display.

Hodges scored two tries, both darting dummy-half efforts from close to the line, and put through a smart grubber for giant Ligi Sao to touch down.

Neither team reported any major injuries.

Barba said he was happy and a little surprised about how well he came through the game in his halves combination with Jeff Robson.

“It was exciting to get out in the Sharks’ jersey for the first time and I hope I can build on this in the next trial.

“We’ve been working really hard all off-season and I think at the start (of the pre-season), we always knew we were probably going to be the halves pairing.

“So we got together quite a lot in team drills and I think we worked pretty well together. His (Robson’s) job is to organise and I just run off the back of him – he makes my job a lot easier.

“Not to sound cocky, but I worked pretty hard with Flanno (coach Shane Flanagan) and the coaching staff on my game and to drop the weight and try and get real fit again so I can play my best football and I’m pretty happy with how I went so I’m just looking forward to playing some more football.

“I lost about 2-3 kilos and I can definitely feel it out there in the legs. It’s good to feel fast and nippy again and I’m excited about this game and hopefully it can continue,” Barba said.