Melbourne Rising announce NRC squad for 2014

Rennie will certainly not be the starting fullback. Most likely Veainu will shift into fullback which will then bring in Joe Kamana or Sefa Naivalu onto the wing. If not Martin Naufahu may get the nod at 10 with Debreczeni at fullback. Watch out for Naivalu when he gets his chance. He broke the Fiji schools record in 100m sprint running 10.2 seconds! Lightning. Looking forward to seeing local players rise in this new competition.

I have to agree with you on young Ben, I have been at the ground when he is warming up at the bench and those basses are laser beams.

There are two players listed for the House however they are the ones allocated to the club by the Rebels. They are not strictly green white and black, they are dark blue.

There are at least two players I saw there that were listed as Powerhouse?

Victorian Rugby Union has improved over the years and successfully matching the level of any other State which being part of the NRC will prove that we are no strangers to the level required in this competition. An opportunity for these local players has been a long time coming with the likes of Digby Ioane and Christian Lealiifano also young local talents that came through our local comps. Melbourne Rising will surely make their presence felt on the field, it's just a matter of time!

I wonder where Ben Meehan will be playing? I think he is better than Stirzacker at this stage.

There will be injuries, the WB's will come out of the squad and guys will get the chance to impress at training. The normal way the fringe players in a squad force their way in. We've seen one person on this thread sing the praises of Angus Hamilton, if he is bosching Jeffries at training then he'll get a chance.

How could the ARU block an off contract player? Whatever this magic trick, they should do it for Longbottom and Douglas as well.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. In one stroke, seeing a list like this with the clubs listed, it instantly justifies the whole concept, by providing a realistic pathway or bridge from club rugby to super rugby.

Fantastic to see them giving local talent a go. Will definitely try to get to games to watch them in action. As another poster has remarked- at least they haven't shipped down a bunch of Syd Uni players.

Geez I hope not! How are the vru's most talented supposed to get better warming the pine?

Any pointers as to who from the 'lesser lights' to keep an eye on Sailosi? Still no idea if we are going to see any of it over here.

Potential line up below - there are many players I am unfamiliar with but by picking the known players and then filling the bench with the remaining Rebels aligned players the team shapes something like below. (I put Lloyd in for his experience vs the only other centre in the squad Naivalu who I am unfamiliar with). Of course the eventual line up will be different but hopefully this gives people an idea what it might look like. Expect that they will need replacements for Jones and Higginbotham when away with the Wallabies. 1. Toby Smith (Prop, Melbourne Uni/Melbourne Rebels) 2. Pat Leafa (Hooker, Box Hill/Melbourne Rebels) 3. Paul Alo-Emile (Prop, Power House/Melbourne Rebels) 4. Cadeyrn Neville (Lock, Footscray/Melbourne Rebels) 5. Luke Jones (Lock, Moorabbin/Melbourne Rebels)* Allocated Wallaby 6. Lopeti Timani (Back rower, Footscray/Melbourne Rebels) 7. Sean McMahon (Back rower, Endeavour Hills/Melbourne Rebels) 8. Scott Higginbotham (Back rower, Harlequin/Melbourne Rebels)* Allocated Wallaby 9. Nic Stirzaker (Scrumhalf, Endeavour Hills/Melbourne Rebels) 10. Jack Debreczeni (Flyhalf, Endeavour Hills/Melbourne Rebels) 11. Telusa Veainu (Wing, Melbourne/Melbourne Rebels) 12. Lloyd Johansson (Centre, Harlequin) 13. Mitch Inman (Centre, Southern Districts/Melbourne Rebels) 14. Tom English (Wing, Melbourne Uni/Melbourne Rebels) 15. Rennie Lautolo-Molimau (Fullback, Endeavour Hills) 16. Tom Sexton (Hooker, Power House/Melbourne Rebels) 17. Cruze Ah-Nau (Prop, Footscray/Melbourne Rebels) 18. Finbar Simpson (Prop, Melbourne) 19. Sam Jeffries (Lock, Melbourne Uni/Melbourne Rebels) 20. Sione Taufa (Back rower, Harlequin/Melbourne Rebels) 21. Junior Paila (Scrumhalf, Endeavour Hills) 22. Martin Naufahu (Flyhalf, Foostcray/Melbourne Rebels) 23. Joe Kamana (Wing, Moorabbin) 24. Fereti Sa’aga (Prop, Melbourne Uni) 25. Tui Tuiatua (Prop, Moorabbin) 26. Greg Bauer (Hooker, Box Hill) 27. Angus Hamilton (Lock, Harlequin) 28. Frank Amituanai (Lock, Footscray) 29. OJ Noa (Back rower, Harlequin) 30. Reuben Rolleston (Back rower, Endeavour Hills) 31. Pom Simona (Back rower, Harlequin) 32. Shane Imo (Flyhalf, Footscray) 33. Sefanaia Naivalu (Centre, Box Hill)

Disappointing that there's no local reps from Powerhouse. Shunned a big supporter base from one of Melbourne's most affluent suburbs.

but apparently the ARU blocked the move, and he is headed to the Tahs curious

Foketi signed for France ages ago

Yes Hog that's true and really looking forward to seeing their local players, but the hard truth is you can't compare Melbourne Club level to Sydney club level and these guys are going to get a reality check.

Played with Gus Hamilton at Harlequin (different grades though as I was terrible) and he is quite a player. He will do very well in the NRC.

it is about promoting players from Melbourne, squad depth does not look that bad. At least their not shipping a bunch of players down from Syd Uni.

The jersey looks like Melbourne Storm Rising IMHO ....