Former Test player Shaun Berrigan has ranked his first pre-season with the Canberra Raiders as one of the toughest of his NRL career.

The veteran utility pulls on the green jersey for the first time in the Raiders’ opening trial against Melbourne this weekend in Albury, where he plans to cement his place in the first-grade line-up, most likely in the centres.

The former Brisbane premiership player has enjoyed his fair share of grand final action that includes last year’s loss to Manly while playing with the New Zealand Warriors.

A good one to judge, Berrigan thinks that if the pre-season is anything to judge by, he’ll get another finals stint with his new club.

“We started in November and we train really hard,” he told AAP.

“It’s been one of the hardest pre-seasons I’ve had in a long time.

“Our trainer Fordy (head conditioning coach Matt Ford) has been very smart with what he’s done.

“He hasn’t made us run for two hours you know, but it’s been high intensity stuff.

“The boys have worked hard in the gym and we do four weight sessions a week and lots of stretching.

“So we’re off to a good start this year, and hopefully we’ll see the benefits of it.”

Coming off that grand final loss last September with the Warriors, Berrigan had just a four-week break before getting straight back into training with Canberra.

The extended lead-up has the entire team raring to go against the Storm, who they also meet in round one of the season on March 3.

Only finals will cut it in 2012, Berrigan said.

“To start in November and go all that way and finish up doing nothing would be a real disappointment.

“I’ve been lucky to play a lot of semi-finals football over the past couple of years at clubs I’ve been to, so that’s our goal this year to make sure we’re in that top eight.”

The Raiders have named a near full-strength squad for the Storm match in Albury, with centre Jarrod Croker (knee) and prop David Shillington (infected elbow) the only regulars to miss out.

Melbourne will meanwhile do without three of their biggest players for their second trial match, with skipper Cameron Smith out with a shoulder injury and both Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk to be rested.