The Southern California Griffins side has been named for the national All-Star championships in Florida next month.
Under the stewardship of Stu Krohn, the Griffins will be hoping to get noticed by USA Eagles head coach Tom Billups and his panel of advisory selectors. The SoCal side includes several players who either made the Eagles Test lineup this past summer, or who were in the squad for the RWC qualifiers.
Among the Eagles squad players called up to represent southern California are Mike Hercus, Brian Surgener, David Fee, Conrad Hodgson, Al Lakomskis and Greg Alley. In general, the side boasts a fair smattering of Super League players, as well as standouts from Division I.
"I think it has a nice balance between the top four sides in Southern Cal," said Krohn of the rep side. "A few of the players may not be on the Eagle radar currently, but we're hoping to do just that in Tampa.
"We want to get them the chance to be seen amongst the top players in the US. The guys have a good attitude and they've been getting stuck into their work, but we'll definitely be going in as underdogs."
The Griffins have already had a couple of useful practice matches in Las Vegas and prior to competing at the national championships (Dec 6-8), they're slated to play a 'friendly' scrimmage against the Pacific Coast Grizzlies this Sunday in Phoenix.
Southern California All-Star squad:
Props: Jason Wood (OMBAC), Doug Bratcher (Santa Monica), Thomas Wagner (OMBAC)
Hookers: Ray McGettigan (Belmont Shore), Matt Wyatt (OMBAC)
Second row: Brian Surgener (Back Bay), Greg Alley (Belmont Shore), Mike Kennedy (Belmont Shore)
Back row: Dan Payne (OMBAC), Dominic Riebli (Santa Monica), Jeremy Meyer (Santa Monica), Conrad Hodgson (OMBAC), Jurie Gouws (Santa Monica)
Scrumhalf: Peter Galicz (Belmont Shore), Brad Speer (Belmont Shore)
Flyhalf: Mike Hercus (Belmont Shore), Sam Gonzalez (Bakersfield)
Centers: Kain Cross (Santa Monica), Nelo Tukino (Back Bay), Jason Harper (OMBAC)
Wings: Paul Sochocky (Belmont Shore), David Fee (Back Bay)
Fullback: Al Lakomskis (Belmont Shore), Johan Claasen (OMBAC)