Inaugural National Rugby Championship winners Brisbane City have named an impressive 36-man playing squad for this year’s tournament.

Brisbane City defeated Perth Spirit 37-26 in last year’s final to claim the inaugural title and will be one of the teams to beat again this season after naming a squad featuring 16 Super Rugby players.

“It’s great to finalise the squad and get underway with our training program,” Brisbane City coach Nick Stiles said.

“The competition is just a couple of weeks away and while we’ve only come together as a team this week, you can already feel the energy around the group after just a couple of training sessions.”

The remainder of the squad is made up of non-contracted Club players, will seven of Brisbane Premier Rugby’s nine clubs represented.

“We built a strong identity for Brisbane City last season, which the players and fans really believed in – so it’s exciting to have so many returning players and staff – many from Brisbane school and club Rugby. Hopefully we can build on what we started in 2014.”

Reds star Liam Gill will captain the side and lead a relatively inexperienced forward pack.

“Liam was one of the standout performers for the Reds this year and was recognised by his peers as the most consistent player. He’s a natural leader, who the players gravitate toward. We think he’ll thrive as skipper of Brisbane City.”

In the backs, Nick Frisby, Jake McIntyre, Karmichael Hunt, Samu Kerevi and James O’Connor with link to form what will likely be one of the competition’s most impressive backlines.

Brisbane City 2015 NRC squad

Ryan Freeney – GPS

Feao Fotuaika – Sunnybank

Sam Talakai – Reds/GPS

Pettowa Paraka – Reds/Easts

Markus Vanzati – Souths

Matt Mafi – Brothers

Andrew Ready – Reds/Easts

Alex Casey – Souths

James Horwill – Reds/University of Queensland

James Moore – Easts

Cadeyrn Neville – Reds

Corey Thomas – GPS

Ben Hyne – Brothers

Luke Beauchamp – Brothers

Liam Gill (C) – Reds/Sunnybank

Scott Higginbotham – Wallabies

Adam Korczyk – Reds/University of Queensland

Michael Richards – GPS

Criff Tupou – Brothers

Waita Setu – GPS

Nick Frisby – Reds/GPS

Will Genia – Reds/Wests

Tim Smith – Wests

Moses Sorovi – University of Queensland

Quade Cooper – Reds/Souths

James Dalgleish – University of Queensland

Jake McIntyre – Reds/Sunnybank

Karmichael Hunt – Reds/Brothers

Samu Kerevi – Reds/GPS

Henry Taefu – Sunnybank

Toby White – Easts

Alex Gibbon – Southern Districts

Patrick James – Brothers

Chris Kuridrani – Reds/GPS

Junior Laloifi – Sunnybank

James O’Connor – Reds/Brothers

Mika Tela – Souths

More to come …