Changing of the guard in NRRRL representative team

A SQUAD of 24 players has been selected to represent the Northern Rivers Titans in the NSW men’s open rugby league championships next year.

New coach Wayne Forbes said he hopes to bring through the next crop of exciting young talent into the fold.

The average age in the team is 24 years old with 11 of the 13 Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League clubs represented.

Forbes said they had 450 players to choose from this year with 12 of the 24 players a chance of making their representative debut.

Six of the players are on train and trial deals with Queensland Cup teams over summer while another three have NSW Cup experience.

“It will be a bit of a changing of the guard this year with some of the young blokes coming through,” Forbes said.

“We’re really looking for that emerging talent with a bit of seasoned experience to make up the squad.

“As a result of that we have a big mobile pack with plenty of speed and skill in our backline.

“I think our youngest player is 19 and we’ll have a fair bit of x-factor out there.”

Brothers Caleb and Connor Ziebell bring plenty of size and experience to the side along with Byron Bay second-rower Jacob Kernick.

Centre Jordan Lee, hooker Michael Dwane and fullback Liam Green have been named in the squad after winning a premiership with Ballina last season.

Northern United fullback Hezekiah McKenzie will be one to watch if he makes the final 17.

He was the NRRRL Player of the Year in 2023 and the competition’s top point-scorer last season.

A few other Ballina players were unavailable for selection while Cudgen has the most representation with seven of its team in the squad.

“It’s a credit to the depth of the competition that we’ve had a few unavailable and have still named a really strong squad,” Forbes said.

“We’ll come together early in the year and start working on what we want to do.”

Forbes has coached similar representative teams in Queensland and helped Cudgen rebuild its NRRRL side around youth last season.

He will be joined by assistant coaches and staff including Tobin Cupples, Brad Lees, Mathew Mawson, Peter Kirby and Sam Mc Elligott.