Ale was named captain at Wednesday night's training session ahead of a first-up clash with famed rugby union club Randwick at Coogee Oval.

The experienced campaigner has been a strong performer with local side Hamilton for the best part of a decade in between stints playing Sydney's premier competition.

"We've got a few natural leaders but Chris is probably going to have more game time, has done a lot more of the pre-season and has played at this level before with Easts and Warringah," Coleman said.

Coleman said leaving out the likes of new flanker Shawn Ingle (Melbourne), Marlon Solofuti, Zac Crowley and Marcus Christensen for round one was "difficult", but also showed the squad's "depth".

Meanwhile, the NHRU Rams Cup competition, an alternative for the cancelled premiership, will start on August 1 with the Hawks hosting Nelson Bay, Lake Macquarie at home to Merewether, Wanderers visiting Beaches and Uni away to Singleton.

WILDFIRES: 1 David Puchert 2 Chris Ale (c) 3 Nicholas Dobson 4 Adam Edwards 5 Va Talaileva 6 Lachlan Miller 7 Piers Morell 8 Ben Ham 9 Mahe Fangupo 10 Brendan Holliday 11 Hayden Coles 12 Taulogo Lalaga 13 Rob Buserau 14 Nimilote Qio 15 Chad Northcott 16 Steve Lamont 17 Phil Bradford 18 Sitiveni Waqa 19 Alec Corcoran 20 Seva Rokobaro 21 Charles Fielder 22 Connor Mulhearn 23 Daniel Davis.

COLTS: 1 Justis Gerrard 2 Beau Merrick 3 Tim Ryan 4 Harrison Dal Molin 5 Nicholas Bignall 6 Jack Barr 7 Tom Mildren 8 Alex Vaughan 9 Jack Perry 10 Jack Mackay 11 Ethan McLoughlin 12 Ben Dyson 13 Mick Taylor 14 Elias Pettigrew 15 Zac Crowley 16 Liam Harris 17 Harrison Geale 18 Matthew Baggs 19 Martin Arias-Fernandez 20 Jacob Alchin 21 Jordan Byfield 22 William Archer 23 Jason Allwood.

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