Team selection

The Exiles rugby league team is selected from the overseas players in the Super League competition. These players are chosen to form a 23 man squad by a foreign coach (usually an Australian or New Zealand coach). For the Exiles team the fans get to choose who plays for the Exiles. All players in the squad are NRL club trained players. An initial squad of 95 players were eligible to play. This squad has been reduced to 32 by Exiles Head Coach Brian McClennan and assistant coach Terry Matterson. There will be a selection limit of three players per club. Hierarchy of selection criteria for players is number of votes, position, then club. Coach has final say. From the 34-man squad, the Exiles coach will make five selections during the voting period and will announce a further four selections throughout May. Fans, who register on the official selection website, will be given the opportunity to select their strongest starting 13.Supporters have until midnight on Thursday April 21 2011 to submit their squad selection. The nine players selected by the Exiles coach and the highest ranked 13 players selected by the fans that have not been selected by the coach will make up the 22-man Exiles squad. The Exiles coach will reduce the 22-man squad to 18 in the week leading up to the International Origin match. The 18 players selected by the coach will go into battle against England on Friday June 10 2011 at Headingley Carnegie Stadium. Any player who has to be omitted from the Exiles squad, whether that is through injury or other unforeseen circumstances, the Exiles coach will have sole jurisdiction to replace that player with a selection of his choice. However the fan selection process was only used for the 2011 series.