COACH Scott Hamilton believes Brandan Holliday is ideally suited to the Barbarian's style Newcastle will adopt and confirmed that the Lake Macquarie fly-half is among of host of local players in contention to take on the Western Force at No.2 Sportsground on February 29.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Newcastle will be boosted by a number of players from Sydney for the match which will be played under Global Rapid Rugby rules.
"We will be playing a very Barbarian style of footy," Coleman said. "Under rapid rugby rules, there is far less kicking, the ball is in play a lot longer and teams are rewarded for attacking from their own half."
Most of the imports are spread from Warringah, Easts, Gordon, Norths and Randwick and include former NSW Waratahs lock Nick Palmer, prop Sam Needs, Queensland Reds centre Seb Wileman, Australian under-20 back-rower Hugh Margin.
Warringah fly-half Tom Halse is likely to start against the Force but Coleman said Holliday was pushing hard for a place in the squad.
"He had a taste of first grade in Sydney at Norths, but had a lot of injury problems," Coleman said. "There is no doubt he has the ability. With good players around him, I think he will be even better."
"He is physical when he has to be, but just the time and control he has is awesome. He can put runners in holes or he can straighten up and take the ball to the line."
As well as Holliday, recently arrive Canberra Vikings prop Nick Dobson (Merewether), Lake Macquare player-coach Marlon Solofuti, Hamilton hooker Chris Ale, powerhouse Merewether winger Bill Coffey and exciting Hawks fullback Zac Crowley have impressed at Newcastle rep training.
"Nick Dobson played in the National Rugby Championships last year and you can see already that he is a class above Newcastle," Coleman said.
"Marlon is quiet off the field, but once it comes to footy he is 100 per cent. You can tell he has played professional footy before and has been in high-end programs.
"Preparation for the Force game is extremely short. We will have a captain's run on the Saturday morning and hopefully get a bit of video footage of the Force. I will rely on experienced players, but a few of the young guys will get a chance."
The Newcastle squad has been training for about five weeks and a possibles versus probables game will be played as a curtain-raiser to the Force hit out.
From that a squad of 30 will be selected to take on Illawarra the following week.
