Queensland Country have endured far less success than their metropolitan cousins in the first two seasons of the NRC, but 2016 is looking like the year that could all change that.

The squad announcement last week unveiled a balanced mix of experience and youth, headlined by Brad Thorn coming out of retirement as a player-coach. He will be an assistant alongside Jason Gilmour as they stand behind former Wallaby Toutai Kefu, who will take the reins as head coach for the upcoming season.

Overview

“Just looking at our squad closely, I think it’s a team that is very young but with a lot of potential and if you compare it to last year and the year before I think this team is superior. I’ve got some very good assistant coaches who I will obviously lean on to assist me in bringing out that potential.”

“The main factor in bringing him (Thorn) back is probably just that connection he has with the players. I think it’s a very good coaching tool, which is very unique, where not only is he a coach but he’ll be playing along with the players that he’s coaching. So he’ll be able to lead by example and be shoulder to shoulder in the trenches with the players. The players will be able to see how he prepares and how he approaches games.”

“Preparation has been short and we had a training session tonight (Tuesday) and there was a few things we didn’t get through and a few more learning things which we’ll have to do on Thursday, which is not ideal because it’s our last session before our game on Sunday. But you know what, the best idea about having a short preparation is it forces you to be quite simple and approach the game in a simple way, and that’s a very importantly philosophy of mine; I don’t over complicate the game.”

“We want to play a little bit more. If you look at the statistics over the last two years in NRC, the ‘ball-in-play-minutes’ is actually around 35 minutes, which is pretty much up to Test standard, so the ball is in play a lot more than Super Rugby. We want to take advantage of that, we want to play a little bit more, we want to use our skill set. We don’t want do be predictable; we want to do something that they don’t normally do. That’s the approach we’re going to take.”

Player(s) to watch?

“Our halves are very experienced in terms of them playing together. James Tuttle and Mack Mason have played together in the under 20s program for the state and then obviously for the Australian under 20s, so there is a little bit of a combination there. I think that combination will come out in the NRC.”

“I’m very keen to see our outside backs. Campbell Magnay, the fullback (Tom) Banks and also the young winger, who has been injured quite a bit over the past 18 months, Izaia Perese. I’m looking forward to them playing and I think the way that I coach might suit them; they might be able to see the ball a little bit more.”

“I haven’t been able to see too much of them playing over the past 12 to 18 months, but from I’ve seen I’m buoyed by the fact that they could be special players.”

Goal/aspirations?

“Because we’ve got some good exciting young players and I think if you look over the squad compared to the years gone by, I think we have a far superior squad to those years, so my expectations are quite high.”

“Our goal, and I’ve stated to this to the team, is to make the finals, which means top four. So if you break that down, that’s probably winning three or four games; so that’s our target.”

“Once you get to the finals, anything can happen.”

Squad

FORWARDS:

Sef Fa’agase, Richie Asiata, Taniela Tupou, Ben Daley, Kirwan Sanday, James Slipper, Feleti Kaitu’u, Alex Casey, Saia Fainga’a, Stephen Moore, Izack Rodda, Tyrell Barker, Brad Thorn, Phil Potgieter, Rob Simmons, Angus Scott-Young, Jack Cornelsen, Connor Mitchell, Maclean Jones, Apisai Naiyabo, Lolo Fakaosilea

BACKS:

James Tuttle, Scott Malolua, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa,, Mack Mason, Mitch Third, Duncan Paia’aua, Matt Gordon, Campbell Magnay, Josh Birch, Izaia Perese, Tom Banks, Tyronne Lefau, Liam McNamara, Eto Nabuli, Tom Pincus