Spirit catchcry - may the Force be with you
Perth Spirit by team name. Western Force by team sheet.
The Spirit side named for Sunday's NRC clash with Brisbane City at McGillivray Oval is a defacto Force team. Fourteen of the starting side and four reserves have played Super Rugby.
The only player in the run-on side without Super experience is Australian under-20 representative, No.8 Ross Haylett-Petty, who will play alongside his brother, full-back Dane.
Brisbane coach Nick Stiles expects the Spirit to play a typical Force structured game - ironically, one he was part of when he was a Force assistant coach.
"They will be very Western Force orientated, very structured and have a very clear understanding of that Western Force style," Stiles said.
But a back line with names like Kyle Godwin, Luke Morahan, Junior Rasolea and Haylett-Petty may prove Stiles wrong.
Throw Justin Turner, Dillyn Leyds and Marcel Brache into the mix in a competition with new laws designed to encourage running rugby and he could be proved very wrong.
Winger Morahan, in his first game in nearly five months, certainly thinks he will be.
The speedster was felled by a snapped tendon in his left hamstring and suffered a setback with a strain to the same muscle 11 weeks later at training.
"The standard has been high and it looks like a cracking competition. The first round saw a lot of teams quick tapping, which is speeding up the game," he said.
"I'm looking forward to that. I'd like to play 80 minutes but we'll see how the body pulls up. Five months out I might be underdone."
Morahan will be out to impress Wallabies coaching staff in Perth ahead of the game against South Africa tomorrow week but knows he needs to be patient.
·The ARU will introduce flexible contracts from 2016 for a select number of players who commit to Australian rugby on long-term deals that will allow overseas sabbaticals.
They will be able to offer players the opportunity to play one season in a foreign domestic competition during a long-term contract and players who represent Australia in sevens at the Rio Olympic Games will be allowed to play the 2016-17 Japanese domestic season without affecting their eligibility for the Wallabies in 2017.
PERTH SPIRIT *
Pek Cowan, Heath Tessmann, Tetera Faulkner, Sam Wykes, Rory Walton, Brynard Stander, Matt Hodgson, Ross Haylett-Petty, Justin Turner, Dillyn Leyds, Marcel Brache, Kyle Godwin, Junior Rasolea, Luke Morahan, Dane Haylett-Petty. *Reserves *: Robbie Abel, Francois van Wyk, Oliver Hoskins, Corey Thomas, Richard Hardwick, Ian Prior, Zack Holmes, Va'a Mailei. *Kick-off 3.30pm. *
