Queensland have named three of their five returning world Cup players and new captain Liam Wright in a strong 28-man squad to face the Melbourne Rebels in their opening trial match of the season in Gladstone on Friday.
James O’Connor will turn out for the Reds for the first time since his ill-fated 2015 season, while fellow World Cup Wallabies Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Taniela Tupou have also been named, along with Wright, who played two Tests in 2019.
Queensland's other World Cup players - Izack Rodda and Jordan Petaia have not been named. Rodda had an ankle clean-out on his return from Japan to deal with bone spurs, while Petaia is working on his overall strength and fitness after battling injury for much of last year.
Hookers Alex Mafi and Brandon Paenga-Amosa have both been named for the hitout, in the first battle for the no.2 jersey for the regular season.
The squad features a strong mix of experience and exciting fresh talent including four new signings (on top of O'Connor), in Dave Feao, Tuaina Taii Tualima, Seru Uru and Hunter Paisami.
Developing Squad duo Dane Zander and Ilaisa Droasese will also get their first chance to impress ahead of the Super Rugby season, while Junior Wallabies Josh Nasser, Harry Wilson and Isaac Lucas will get their chance to push for spots in the round one team.
Following strong performances in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) last year, Brisbane City pairing Lawson Creighton and Ryan Smith were invited to train with Queensland during the pre-season and have been rewarded with selection in tomorrow’s uncapped fixture in central Queensland.
Junior Wallabies sensation Harry Wilson is pushing for a starting spot in round one and is can't wait to get into the action in Gladstone.
"It's obviously an early start this year but I kind of like it, a shorter pre-season and you get into the footy earlier," Wilson said.
"It's very exciting and I know all the boys can't wait to rip in tomorrow."
Despite losing stalwart Scott Higginbotham at the end of last season, Queensland has enormous depth in the back row, with Wallabies Salakaia-Loto and Wright competing with Angus Scott-Young - who was invited into Wallabies camp early last season - and Junior World Cup standouts Wilson and Fraser McReight for three starting spots.
After off-season surgery on his hip, McReight has only just returned to contact work and has not been named for the Gladstone trial.
But after an NRC season in which he was named the 2019 Rising Star, Wilson continues to impress and is pushing Scott-Young for the starting no.8 spot in round one.
"Obviously (the backrow depth) makes training very difficult always versing each other and it's always very competitive, in a good way, which helps us all improve.
"But as well as what you do in training it matters what you do in a game so all of us will be ripping in (in Gladstone) - playing together but just playing as hard as you can to impress as much as you possible can."
Wilson, who was a part of the Reds training squad last year but did not make his Super Rugby debut before leaving for the Junior World Cup in Argentina, said he had taken plenty of confidence from his Junior Wallabies and NRC campaigns which allowed him to believe he had the ability to match it with the men.
"I've been trying to take the confidence from there and back myself and hopefully I can do it in Super Rugby," he said.
"It's a huge benefit training with them last year and getting to know all the boys well, so being able to take the field with them, I'm very confident because you know them so well off the field and have trained with them enough and it'll be pretty cool to play with them all on the field.
"Hopefully I know their strengths and they know my strengths now, so that will make it a bit better for all of us."
Reds head coach Brad Thorn said the team was looking forward to travelling to Gladstone and playing in front of fans from the region.
“It’s a good opportunity for the new guys to step-up. It’ll be a good first hit-out and they’ll be up for the contest,” Thorn said.
With the Super Rugby season kicking off in just a fortnight, the trials are starting as earlier than ever before and while some coaches look upon them as a necessary evil, Thorn will be using them to monitor his players closely ahead of the January 31 round one clash against the Brumbies in Canberra.
"You get to reward a couple of guys who may not get much time, in your first trial," he said.
"And then in your second trial, I guess you're getting more of a look at the team that's looking likely (for round one) so they get a bit of cohesion together.
"It'll be interesting to see how the teams start in late January.
"There possibly might be a bit of ball down and the other thing is, you've had the World Cup and a lot of emotion and work gets put into that and there can be a bit of a challenge around that with so many players being involved."
Players are likely to face uncomfortable conditions due to the mid-afternoon kickoff, with temperatures in Gladstone expected to reach the low 30s, with high humidity and the chance of a thunder storm in the region.
Reds strength and conditioning coach Brynley Abad explained the club's work to deal with the heat during the pre-season.
"We'll look at the temperatures and we'll have a look at (any extra items that might be needed at the grounds)," Abad said.
"But definitely utilising ice towels, ice vests, slushies, to cool them down, so you've got that intra-cooling, that definitely helps.
"And just making sure we're testing them hydration-wise and they're hydrated before the game, that type of thing."
The match, the first of two pre-season fixtures for the Reds, kicks off at Marley Brown Oval in Gladstone on Friday, January 17, at 2:45pm local (3:45pm AEDT).
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TEAMS
Reds to play Rebels
Forwards
Dane Zander
Brandon Paenga-Amosa
Alex Mafi
Sean Farrell
Efi Ma’afu
Taniela Tupou
Dave Feao
Josh Nasser
Angus Blyth
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto
Ryan Smith
Tuaina Taii Tualima
Angus Scott-Young
Liam Wright
Harry Wilson
Seru Uru
Backs
Tate McDermott
Moses Sorovi
Isaac Lucas
James O'Connor
Hamish Stewart
Hunter Paisami
Chris Feauai-Sautia
Filipo Daugunu
Jock Campbell
Ilaisa Droasese
Bryce Hegarty
Lawson Creighton
