Speedster Curtis Rona will have a chance to show his speed in the Brisbane Tens next week, named in the Force's 27-man squad for the tournament.
Rona scored 41 tries in 57 games of NRL for the Bulldogs and Cowboys and with a bit more space in the Tens tournament will be one of the key weapons for the WA side.
Wallabies Tatafu Polota-Nau and Luke Morahan will also be travelling to Queenslandfor the two-day competition.
Ben McCalman's start to the year has been delayed after a thumb dislocation, while Wallabies fullback Dane Haylett-Petty has not been named, having been back at training just three weeks.
Force skills coach Kevin Foote will take the reins at the event, with David Wessels opting to focus on Super Rugby trials.
Wessels said the opportunity would be crucial for Foot and the Force.
"It’s very exciting, a new format of the game, we’ve seen how successful it’s been for a sport like cricket trying different forms, so we’re thrilled to be involved with it," he said.
“Kevin Foote will be the coach at the tournament, with the rest of the coaching staff supporting him. He’s had some experience in the tens format of the game and we feel he is the appropriate coach to lead the team and the rest of the staff will all be supporting him.”
The Force have some Tens success, having won the Mauritius Tens last year, and Foote said he was excited to have control with plenty of new faces in the squad.
“I’m really pumped about the Tens, it’s an exciting tournament and I think we’ve got a really strong squad who are excited to play that style of game," he said.
“We will definitely take momentum from the win in the Mauritius Tens last year, but more importantly we want to go out there and enjoy playing the game.
“I think we have a really good balance in the squad; a guy like ‘Hodgo’ (Matt Hodgson) over the ball in unstructured play with so much space and having guys like Luke Morahan, Curtis Rona and Chance Peni outside of them with pace it should be entertaining to watch.”
The Force will come up against the Hurricanes and Toulon in the Brisbane competition but kick off their preseason on February 6, with a trial against the Rebels on the Gold Coast. abut
SQUAD
Force Brisbane Tens squad
Richard Arnold
Marcel Brache
Robert Coleman
Mees Erasmus
Peter grant
Richard Hardwick
Ross haylett-Petty
Matt Hodgson
Onehunga Kaufusi
Kane Koteka
Ryan Louwrens
Semisi Masiwera
Luke Morahan
Isi Naisarani
Alex Newsome
Chance Peni
Matthew Philip
Tatafu Polota-Nau
Ian Prior
Anaru Rangi
Curtis Rona
Michael Ruru
Brynard Stander
Heath Tessman
James Verity-Amm
Shambeckler Vui
