The second season of the National Rugby Championship kicks off on Thursday, August 20. With six weeks until then, it’s worth doing the first round-up of the nine clubs to see where things are up to.

But first there is one happy development. After a clear preference for yellow, gold or orange playing strips in five of the nine clubs in 2014, all NRC clubs will have an alternate strip in 2015.

If you head to the NRC website and go to each team page, you’ll see the main and alternate strips pictured for eight of the nine clubs.

NSW Country’s strips are just being finalised, but the sneak preview I’ve seen of both the main and alternate strip showed a couple of pretty sharp looking jerseys.

There was also some suggestion that Wallabies player allocations for 2015 could be announced as soon as today. Some NRC promotional work was done within the Wallabies camp up on the Sunshine Coast this week, and the teams are certainly hoping for increased promotional use – if not playing use – of the national players this season.

Here’s what the clubs told me on the first ring-around of the season. Websites and Twitter handles are listed, but your club may also have Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channels in play too. Check websites for details.

Brisbane City Twitter: @BrisCity_NRC
Queensland Country Twitter: @QLDCountry_NRC
Once again, the two Queensland sides will be run as subsidiaries of the Reds, and so it’s appropriate to group them together today as well.

Championship-winning coach Nick Stiles has again been appointed as City coach, while Queensland Under-20s coach Jason Gilmore takes the Country reins from Steve Meehan. The Reds have again called on Premier Rugby coaches to apply for the various NRC assistant coach roles, and those appointments are expected to be finalised in early August on completion of the Brisbane Premier Rugby season.

Scott Allen, I wonder?

City will again play out of Ballymore with tickets going on sale from mid-July and likely at the same $15 for adults as last year. Country will play games on the Gold Coast, the much-anticipated clash with City in front of a big expected crowd in Toowoomba, Rockhampton, and Sunshine Coast Stadium, where the Wallabies have been training this week.

The spread of Country games means the QRU will have taken top-level rugby to all their major regions bar Mackay in the last two years.

The expectation is that the Reds-contracted players will be split reasonably evenly, and priority will again be given for players of country origin to align with the navy blues where possible.

You would think that some common sense might prevail, too. The Reds-bound Cadeyrn Neville playing for Melbourne Rising again makes about as much sense as Rebels-bound James Hanson turning out for City again, for instance.

The QRU is now emphasising the NRC as a genuine pathway for country-based players, too, and the success of the Parker brothers from Townsville last season makes this a worthwhile pursuit.

On that point, Queensland Country Heelers coach Garrick Morgan is assisting Gilmore in identifying possible country talent. All up, 11 Queensland NRC players last season earned contracts with the Reds in 2015, ranging from young guns Adam Korczyk and Campbell Magnay, to new Wallabies squad member, Samu Kerevi.

Perth Spirit Twitter: @PerthSpirit
Perth used the most players of all NRC teams last season – 42, in all – but they tell me that in 2015 they are not expecting to adopt the same only-in-Perth strategy of last season for Western Force players.

That said, it’s unlikely that many of the non-Wallabies senior Force players will feature at all, and that, combined with a large number of departures after the end of the Super Rugby season (Sam Wykes, Zack Holmes to name just two) means that Perth Premier Grade players will again feature heavily.

McGillivray Oval, the training base of the Western Force to the west of the Perth CBD, will be the venue for all four Spirit games this season, and the club is hoping locals will get out in the sunshine and #FillTheHill.

Ticket prices remain the same as last season, too – $15 for adults, $10 concession, and under 16s in free. You can also get all four games for the price of three, if purchased before the first game.

Perth will name their coaching panel in the coming weeks, but Force assistants Kevin Foote and Dave Wessels, who jointly guided the team last season, will have less direct involvement in 2015.

The playing squad will also be finalised soon, with a ‘combine’ kind of program likely to take place to identify the best of the Premier Grade locals.

The team will take control of the Spirit’s social channels at different points during the season, and keep an eye on their Instagram around away games, especially.

Melbourne Rising Twitter: @MelbourneRising
The dominant team of 2014 – right up until the semis – Melbourne will this year take the Rising on the road and to the people of Victoria, with games at Harlequin Rugby Park in Ashwood, Morwell, Simonds Stadium in Geelong, and Frankston.

The Melbourne Rebels have previously played trials at Harlequins and down in Geelong, while local councils in Morwell and Frankston welcome top-level rugby for the first time.

While there are elements of a continuation of the Rebels program, the Rising are striving to show that the NRC team is in fact a separate and important part of the broader Victorian rugby footprint.

With that in mind, an extended player squad of more than 35 Dewar Shield players have commenced training, with a number of them coming from the VRU/Rebels Emerging Players program for young players aged 15 to 22. The final NRC squad will be named in early August, and we await to see who will be the next Sefanaia Naivalu.

Former Canon Eagles coach, and current Rebels forwards coach, Zane Hilton has been named coach of the Rising, and he’ll be assisted by Harlequin coach Craig McGrath, who fulfilled the same role in 2014.

University of Canberra Vikings Twitter: @UC_Vikings
After the Brumbies fell short in the Super Rugby finals series, the organisation’s focus now turns toward the NRC and the Uni of Canberra of Vikings. A training squad of 39 John I Dent Cup players from the ACT has been training since the end of May in preparation.

They’ve assembled under the watch of new UC Vikings coach Brad Harris, who assumes the role with last season’s Vikings coach, Brumbies’ assistant coach Dan McKellar.

McKellar has stepped up to a director of rugby role in the absence of Brumbies World Cup-bound coach Stephen Larkham. McKellar will provide additional support for Harris and oversee the UC Vikings program, while also managing the off-season program for the Brumbies.

The UC Vikings will again play all four games at Vikings Park, Erindale in southern Canberra, and ticket prices and membership options are expected to remain unchanged from 2014.

Hopefully that is also the case for the steak sandwiches; one of the best in the NRC last year.

One other thing to remain unchanged from last season is that charity partners Lifeline and Snowy Hydro Southcare Rescue Helicopter will remain on the front of the 2015 jerseys.

NSW Country Eagles Twitter: @CountryEagles
Another exciting year looms for the nomadic Eagles, who will in 2015 play their games at Woollahra Oval in Sydney, and then once again head to the country, with games in Tamworth, Newcastle and Bathurst.

The game in Sydney again caters for their links to Easts and Randwick, but the Eagles also found they had good support in Sydney from country expats. The regional games follow on from their country roadshow in 2014, and have been pulled together with a combination of local councils, regional rugby bodies, and in some cases, individual clubs.

Darren Coleman will again coach the Eagles side, and will be hoping to go one step further than the lost semi-final in 2014. A core group of players from last season will also follow over for another year, with players of NSW Country origin again the priority to fill remaining spots. The Eagles are again hoping to have a couple of genuine country-based players in the 2015 squad.

Links with NSW Country Rugby, the Waratahs, and particularly the ARU are improving nicely, in line with what Ben Whitaker told me in the NRC Q&A session from a fortnight ago.

As I mentioned at the top, the Eagles’ jerseys are set to be launched soon, and what I can say is that they involve an adaptation of the 2014 strip, but with a characteristic indigenous twist. The Eagles website is set for a re-launch in the next few weeks, too, but social channels remain in place.

Sydney Stars Twitter @starsrugby
The Stars are the club with the most recent piece of news, with yesterday’s appointment of former Sydney Uni, Waratahs, Brumbies and Sydney Roosters player Peter Playford as head coach, replacing new Waratahs assistant coach and Sydney Uni stalwart Chris Malone.

To say Playford is a different cat is the understatement of the century. This, from yesterday’s statement.

“We don’t want big I-am’s. You can have big-name players who bring in a couple of customers, but those customers are there to see a show, a bearded lady, whatever. And if the chip-kick doesn’t end in a try then they’ll leave. I’m working towards long-term results and getting real supporters through the gates. You can keep the customers,” Playford said.

I can safely say I’ve never seen bearded lady references in a rugby media release before. Playford will juggle his NRC coaching role with his full-time sunglass marketing role, and is promising to get more hands-on with the marketing and promotion of the Stars, too. Bearded ladies might be part of his plan, I just don’t know.

The Sydney University-Balmain partnership and pathway remains a key point for the Stars, though with a number of holes in the squad to be filled – for the likes of James Dargaville, recruited to the Brumbies on the back of the 2014 NRC – the Stars concede they may need to look beyond their boundaries.

Leichhardt Oval will again be the Stars’ base in 2015, and already they’re pushing pretty good value with $50 grandstand memberships for four home games. Tickets will remain similarly priced to 2014 otherwise.

Greater Sydney Rams Twitter: @Rams_Rugby
Another team taking a more ‘community’ approach to their playing base in 2015, the Rams will play just the one TV game at Parramatta Stadium in Round 7, with their other three games to be played at Parramatta’s Merrylands home ground, Southern Districts’ Forshaw Rugby Park, and West Harbour’s Concord Oval.

The Rams found last year from ticket sales that supporters of their club partners weren’t necessarily travelling from the south, west and north to Parramatta Stadium, so while the move away from the stadium is partly financial, it’s also about taking the Rams to their member clubs.

The ‘home’ clubs will also play a major role in promotion and the running of their respective games, so the success or otherwise will very much come down to the clubs themselves.

While Souths and Eastwood will again provide the bulk of players, the Rams acknowledge that they have a bit of an issue on their hands in the form of Penrith. No players will come from the Emus in 2015, not helped by a large number of Penrith players heading to other clubs this season, including one of the NRC stars of last year, Jerome Mackenzie.

The likes of Jed Gillespie and Guy Millar also picked up Super Rugby contracts interstate, and their turning out for the Rams this season is still in discussion. Dumped Wallabies prop Benn Robinson is a likely starter, and while he was able to use the NRC last year to kick start a Wallabies recall, suggestions are Ben Alexander may not choose the Rams to play himself back into form.

New Crusaders recruit Ben Volavola is another 2014 Ram not returning.

Former Wallabies assistant coach Jim Williams has been appointed as the new ‘franchise coach’ for the Rams, and he will take a very hands on role as the club “empowers rugby players in the west”.

And the best hashtag in Australian sport last year, #GetRammed, is going around again in 2015, and has been joined by #RampItUp in the initial stages of the season. The Rams had one of the best social media presences going around in 2014, and they’re worth following even if they’re not ‘your’ team.

North Harbour Rays Twitter: @NorthHarbourRay
Geoff Townsend is back on deck in 2015, and the Rays’ first training session as a broader squad took place on Wednesday night. Manly coach, Damien Cummins will be one of Townsend’s assistants, as will former Brumby, Red, Rebel and Wallaby Julian Huxley, who has been appointed as attack and kicking coach.

The Rays are maybe a week or 10 days away from finalising their squad, though the Holmes brothers, Luke and Josh, will again feature prominently. Sam Lane is another player the Rays have high hopes for, on his return from a shocking run with injury.

The Rays are on the hunt for a quality tighthead prop after having scrum issues last season, while they will also be without Cam Crawford in 2015, after he switched to the Melbourne Rebels this season.

The Rays have ditched Brookvale Oval, and will instead play their first two games at Manly Oval, and their last two at Pittwater, or ‘Rat Park’ as it’s better known.

With three Saturday afternoon games ready to welcome families and the kids out for a pre- and post-game kick, the Rays are hoping to cash in on the best-supported local rugby catchment in Sydney. Membership and ticket prices are expected to remain similar to 2014 levels; check out the soon to be re-launched website for details.

Summary
And there you have it, the first ‘all in’ from the NRC clubs in 2015. It’s great to see so much has been going on in preparation, and things are only going to get busier from here.

Six weeks really isn’t that far away.