Queensland Rugby Union today announced the squad and coaching staff for McInnes Wilson Lawyers Brisbane City’s 2018 National Rugby Championship campaign.
The 36-man squad features a healthy mix of professional and grassroots, with 14 players selected from the St.George Queensland Reds squad and the remaining 22 drawn from Queensland Premier Rugby.
As was the case last season, all nine of Queensland’s Hospital Challenge Cup clubs are represented in the squad.
Half the squad have previously represented Brisbane City, while 14 players are in line for their NRC debuts.
University of Queensland’s Mick Heenan will resume the role of head coach, after taking it on for the first time last season.
Heenan is one of the most successful coaches in recent club history, having steered UQ the finals every year since 2010, winning three titles and claiming the minor premiership for the last two years.
Heenan will be joined in the coaching staff by returning assistant Elwee Prinsloo (GPS) and new appointment Elia Tuqiri (Souths).
The announcement came ahead of the first week of Hospital Challenge Cup finals, with 22 Brisbane City players in action this weekend, along with all three coaches.
Heenan said: “It’s pretty exciting to be so close to the NRC season again. We’ve managed to pull together a diverse group, which is probably an indication of how competitive the club season has been this year.
“We’ve got a mix of guys who can roll up their sleeves and others who offer some x-factor out wide and you need both those elements to be successful in this competition.
“Elwee and I were keen to have another crack at the competition and it’s great to add Elia to the coaching mix as well. I’ve known him for a long time and he’ll bring plenty of knowledge to the role.
“It was tough to finish the way we did last season, just missing out on finals. Consistency throughout the season hurt us, but we felt we were on the right track. We’ll build on that experience.”
Brisbane City will take more games to the grassroots than ever before in 2018, with all three home games being hosted by Brisbane clubs Norths, Wests and Easts.
The NRC, which runs from September 1 to October 27, is a more streamlined competition than previous years with eight clubs - including a stand-alone Sydney franchise - now represented.
City’s season gets underway with a home game against the Western Force at Hugh Courtney Oval (Norths) on Sunday 2 September at the family-friendly kickoff time of 3:00pm.
FOX SPORTS is the only place to watch every game of the NRC with no ad-breaks during play.
Two games per week will be broadcast on TV, with the remaining two games available to stream LIVE via foxsports.com.au/live and the FOX SPORTS App.
2018 MCINNES WILSON LAWYERS BRISBANE CITY SQUADName Age Club Representative Honours
Props
Feao Fotuaika 25 Souths Queensland Schoolboys (2011), Australian Schoolboys (2011), Brisbane City (2017-)
Josh Nasser 19 University of Queensland Queensland Schoolboys (2017), Queensland U20s (2017), Australian U20s (2018)
JP Smith 28 Reds / GPS Queensland A v Canada (2011), Brisbane City v Queensland Country rep (2011-2012), ARU National Academy (2012-2013), NRC (2014), Super Rugby (2014-2016), Queensland (2018-)
Ruan Smith 28 Reds / GPS Australia A Schoolboys (2007), South Africa Schoolboys (2008), ARU National Academy (2012), Queensland (2018-)
Misioka Timotea 29 Wests
Hookers
Brandon Paenga-Amosa (Wallabies allocated player) 25 Reds / Sunnybank NRC (2016-2017), Australian Barbarians (2017), NSW Schoolboys (2013), Queensland (2018-), Wallabies (2018-)
Andrew Ready 25 Reds / Easts Queensland Schoolboys (2010), Australia A Schoolboys (2010), Reds A (2013-2014), Australian Under 20s (2013), Brisbane City (2014-2016), Queensland (2015-), Wallaby XV (2016), Barbarians (2016, 2017)
Moli Sooaemalelagi 24 Sunnybank Australian Schoolboys (2012), Melbourne Rebels U20s (2016), Brisbane City NRC (2016)
Locks
Nathan Den Hoedt 21 Sunnybank Queensland U20s (2015)
Jeremiah Lynch 24 Wests Brisbane City NRC (2016-)
Zach Moimoi 26 Bond University Melbourne Storm U20s
Lukhan Tui (Wallabies allocated player) 21 Reds / Souths Australian Under 20s (2015-2016), Queensland (2016-), Brisbane City NRC (2016-2017), Wallabies (2017-), Wallabies v Barbarians (2017)
Jale Vakaloloma 21 Easts Fiji Warriors (2018)
Backrow
Matt Gicquel 21 GPS Queensland Country Heelers (2017)
Michael Gunn 23 Reds / Easts Queensland Schoolboys (2012), Australian Schoolboys (2012), Reds U20s (2014-2015), Reds A (2014) Brisbane City NRC (2014), Australian U20s (2015), Queensland (2015-)
Reece Hewat 20 Reds / Norths Queensland Schoolboys (2015), Australian Schoolboys (2015), Queensland U20s (2017), Australian U20s (2017), Queensland (2017-), Brisbane City NRC (2017)
Adam Korczyk 23 Reds / University of Queensland Queensland Schoolboys (2012), Australian Schoolboys (2012), Reds A (2014), Brisbane City (2014-), Queensland (2015-), Australian Under 20s (2015), Wallabies squad (2017)
Fraser McReight 19 Brothers Australian Schoolboys (2016), Queensland Schoolboys (2016), Queensland Sevens (2016), Queensland U20s (2017), Queensland Country NRC (2017), Australian U20s (2018)
Pat Morrey 22 University of Queensland Queensland Schoolboys (2013), Queensland Country NRC (2016), Brisbane City NRC (2017-)
Tuaina Tualima 21 Sunnybank Queensland U20s (2016), Queensland Schoolboys (2014), Queensland Sevens (2015), Australian Schoolboys (2014), Brisbane City NRC (2017-)
Dillon Wihongi 22 Wests NZ Schoolboys (2013)
Scrumhalves
Scott Gale 23 University of Queensland Queensland Schoolboys (2011), Queensland U20s (2014), Queensland (2014-), Queensland Country NRC (2014-2015)
Moses Sorovi 22 Reds / Wests Queensland Schoolboys (2013), Australian Schoolboys (2013), Queensland Indigenous, Under 18s (2013), Queensland Under 20s (2016), Brisbane City (2015-2016), Queensland (2017-)
Flyhalves
Quade Cooper 30 Reds / Souths Australian Schoolboys (2005-2006), Australian Under 19s (2007), Queensland (2006-2015), Australian Wallabies (2008-), Rugby World Cup (2011, 2015), Brisbane City NRC (2014-2015, 2017), Barbarians (2017)
James Dalgleish 23 University of Queensland Brisbane City (2014-2015, 2017)
Centres
Con Foley 25 University of Queensland Australian U19s (2011), Australian U20s (2012), Commonwealth Games (2014), Olympic Games (2016), Australian Sevens (2011-), Rugby World Cup Sevens (2013), Sydney Rays NRC (2016)
Matt Gordon 23 Easts Queensland Country NRC (2015-2016)Samu Kerevi (Wallabies allocated player) 24 Reds / Souths Queensland Schoolboys (2011), Fiji Under 20s (2012), Queensland (2014-), Brisbane City NRC (2014-2015, 2017), Australian Wallabies (2016-), Wallabies v Barbarians (2017)
Isaac Lucas 19 Sunnybank Australian Schoolboys (2016), Queensland U20s (2017), Australian U20s (2018)
Tautalatasi Tasi 22 Souths South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL (2016)
Outside Backs
Lawson Creighton 20 Brothers Australian U20s (2018)
Alex Gibbon 25 Brothers Combined Country v British and Irish Lions (2013), Australian Sevens (2013-2017), Brisbane City NRC (2015-2016), Queensland (2016), NSW Country NRC (2017)
Karmichael Hunt 31 Reds / Souths Queensland State of Origin RL (2006-2009), Kangaroos RL (2006-2008), Queensland (2015-, Brisbane City NRC (2015), Australian Wallabies (2017), Wallabies v Barbarians (2017)
Lachlan Maranta 26 Reds / Wests Brisbane Broncos NRL (2012-2016), Queensland (2017-), Brisbane City NRC (2017)
Jayden Ngamanu 20 Reds / Souths Australian Schoolboys (2015), Youth Commonwealth Games Sevens (2015), Queensland U20s (2015-2016), Queensland (2017-), Brisbane City NRC (2017-)
Emori Waqavulagi 28 Souths
2018 MCINNES WILSON LAWYERS BRISBANE CITY TEAM STAFF:
Head coach: Mick Heenan (University of Queensland)
Assistant coach: Elia Tuqiri (Souths)
Assistant coach: Elwee Prinsloo (GPS)
Strength and Conditioning coach: Daniel Cooper (QRU)
Physiotherapist: Kylie Baldwin (Wests)
Team Doctor: Dr Martin Smith (Easts)Video analyst: Innes Strydom (QRU)
Team manager: Michael O’Rielley (University of Queensland)
Media manager: Tom Kennedy (QRU)
