Western Force coach Simon Cron says star signing Zac Lomax is confident and ready for his highly anticipated debut in Saturday's Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific clash with the Queensland Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
The former NRL State of Origin winger will come off the bench and Cron told reporters at Wednesday's CD Dodd Coaches’ Conference that while Lomax is still learning some of the "finer arts" at the ruck and different tackle laws, he’s good enough to handle the changes.
"We've done a bit of work with him since he got here and he's very confident he's ready," Cron said.
"We're in a position now where I think it's a great opportunity for him to play. He's coming off the bench so gives him a chance to work his way into the game.
"The finer arts will be a little while coming but he's good enough to handle it.
"The big change between rugby and rugby league is when the tackle in rugby league stops it starts again, whereas ours continues. He's been working a lot on that."
Cron has been forced to make two changes, losing captain Jeremy Williams (head injury protocols) and flanker Carlo Tizzano (knee) from the gritty loss to the Chiefs in the last round.
Tizzano's absence opens the door for a debut for former Munster openside Jack Daly who joined the Force during last year’s Super Rugby AUS from Fortescue Premier Grade club UWA.
"Jack's trained really hard and we've been big on making sure that there are people in behind our top squad who can play," Cron said.
"It's a good opportunity for him to come through and get game time."
Winger Dylan Pietsch returns after an injury lay-off and tighthead Misinale Epenisa will make his first start. In another move Bayley Kuenzle moves to inside centre.
"The midfield is where he would ultimately like to be," Cron said.
"At 12 he's a good ball player and it gives him an opportunity to get some ball carries and put a bit of size into our midfield.
"With Pietschy (Pietsch) coming back it gives our backline good balance. Once we get a couple of games under Pietschy's belt and Zac's belt, it allows us to change the dynamic of that backline a little bit."
A win against the Reds is crucial and Cron said: "The boys know the importance of it, team knows the importance of it.
"We've got to start to fight for 83 minutes rather than just 55-65. We've got to go at it. There's been some amazing rugby that they've played.
"We've just got to nail down those key moments in the game and the boys have been working on that. It's been impressive to watch we've just got to go out and do it on the field."
The Reds backline is boosted by the return of Wallabies backline trio, fly-half Carter Gordon, centre Josh Flook and No.9 Kalani Thomas.
Cron was "gutted" to be losing barnstorming No.8 Vaiolini Ekuasi to French side US Montauban next season but the club could not offer the dollars available elsewhere.
"A couple of years ago we were big on trying to get Vai in and he's developed into a great rugby player," Cron said.
"He's a massive part of our squad. We're upset about it and it's one of the challenges of being where we are, around having the dollars to be able to keep guys like Vai in the system.
"My biggest concern is we develop players like that, and we are going to constantly lose them to Japan, France or franchises that have more money.
"I'm gutted he's going but I understand it from a personal point of view. He's got a partner and a child, we unfortunately can't compete with the financial side of what's been offered."
Game details
Queensland Reds vs Western Force
Saturday 4 April, 4:35pm WST
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Live on Stan Sport
Western Force starting side: 1 Tom Robertson, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3 Misinale Epenisa, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Darcy Swain, 6 Nick Champion de Crespigny (c), 7 Jack Daly, 8 Vaiolini Ekuasi, 9 Henry Robertson, 10 Ben Donaldson (vc), 11 Darby Lancaster, 12 Bayley Kuenzle, 13 George Bridge, 14 Dylan Pietsch, 15 Mac Grealy.
Reserves; 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Sef Fa’agase, 18 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 19 Lopeti Faifua, 20 Will Harris, 21 Nathan Hastie, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Zac Lomax.
Reds starting side: 1 Aidan Ross, 2 Josh Nasser, 3 Nick Bloomfield, 4 Seru Uru, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 6 Joe Brial, 7 Fraser McReight (c), 8 Harry Wilson, 9 Kalani Thomas, 10 Carter Gordon, 11 Treyvon Pritchard, 12 Hunter Paisami, 13 Josh Flook, 14 Filipo Daugunu, 15 Jock Campbell.
Reserves: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Hamish Muller, 20 Vaiuta Latu, 21 Louis Werchon, 22 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, 23 Tim Ryan.
