With a rusty Reds debut out of the way, prize NRL recruit Will Chambers knows he has a tough assignment to force his way into Queensland's backline for the Super 14 kick-off.

Chambers, rapt to be back playing the code that brought him to the attention of the Melbourne Storm, admitted he still had plenty to learn after debuting in Friday night's 20-12 trial win over the Crusaders.

Slippery Ballymore conditions, making for a scrappy pre-season affair, didn't help the 21-year-old who saw little ball in his 60 minutes at outside centre.

It was the tricky job of defending at No.13 which showed how far Chambers has to go before he deserves a place in the starting backline alongside Wallabies Digby Ioane, Quade Cooper, Peter Hynes and Will Genia.

"He'll be the first to put his hand up and say his instinctive part of the game is not there yet," said Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie.

"There were moments there where he didn't look as instinctive as I would have liked but I knew that was going to happen.

"He soldiered away. That was a difficult first-up performance against a side that has a strong history and a lot of experience as a group."

Chambers was just happy to have celebrated his return to the 15-man code with victory.

"It's great to be back playing rugby union I suppose, it's been a few years but it was enjoyable out there and good to get the win," the Nudgee College product said.

"There were a few nerves there, I haven't played a game for four years, but I enjoyed it."

Chambers' set position in 2010 depends as much on where McKenzie believes Wallabies centre pairing Ioane and Cooper will be best utilised.

Cooper wants to start at five-eighth, where Ben Lucas is trialling, while the destructive Ioane shared time at both outside centre and wing last season.

"I'm happy anywhere in the side as long as I make that 22 for round one," Chambers said.

"I'm still learning the game so if the coaches think I'm up to it I'm more than happy to start but at this point in time I'm just happy to make the 22 somewhere."

While the Reds, led by Hynes and two-try skipper Ben Daley, were impressive in the first half against a Crusaders line-up missing their regular All Blacks, the second half fizzled out due to a pile of handling errors.

But Queensland's defence, a major Achilles heel in 2009 when they consistently leaked points to finish second last, showed a major improvement.

"We started pre-season off with the emphasis on defence," said Daley. "Getting that low tackle in and getting the second man in and trying to slow the ball down.

"We've worked really hard on that right across the park."

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