Rabbitohs players Greg Inglis, Adam Reynolds and Nathan Peats have been selected in the Indigenous and NRL All Stars teams for season 2013, it was announced today. Inglis and Peats will play in their second All Stars game, having both been selected to play in the 2012 Indigenous All Stars side at centre and lock respectively. Adam Reynolds will make his senior representative debut having earned selection in the halfback position in the NRL All Stars side, beating out seasoned performers such as current State of Origin halfbacks Cooper Cronk from the Storm and Mitchell Pearce from the Roosters. Nathan Merritt was selected in the Indigenous All Stars side, but was ruled out due to not having quite recovered sufficiently from a shoulder injury suffered in the finals series of 2012, plus off season surgery he had to his neck. He expected to play in at least one of the Rabbitohs' pre-season matches and will be right to start the season. The All Stars game will take place at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday 9 February, kicking off at 7pm QLD time (8pm AEDST).

NRL Indigenous Camp

Seven of the Rabbitohs leading lights and brightest up-and-coming players will be heading to the Sunshine Coast for the first NRL Indigenous Players Camp, a concept developed in part by South Sydney stars Greg Inglis and Nathan Merritt. Inglis and Merritt will be joined by team mates Nathan Peats, Dylan Farrell, Tyrone Phillips, Kyle Turner and Beau Champion at the camp. Johnathan Thurston, Matt Bowen and Sam Thaiday combined forces with Inglis and Merritt to bring together almost all of the NRL players of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage next month at the inaugural NRL Indigenous Players Camp in Queensland. The leadership and cultural awareness camp will be held on the eve of the 2013 Rugby League All Stars week of celebrations, on Friday 1 February and Saturday 2 February, and will involve more than 40 Indigenous players in the NRL. Members of the Indigenous All Stars team will attend before going into a week-long camp for the fourth annual clash in Brisbane being played on Saturday 9 February. Players will take part in sessions on culture, traditional language and dance, traditional hunting skills, along with discussions and sessions about current challenges facing Indigenous people in Australia. The camp program has been developed by NRL Indigenous Players Welfare and Education Program Manager, and former Rabbitohs player, Dean Widders, in conjunction with the Indigenous Players Leadership Group, with the key focus on enabling players to develop a stronger connection with their Indigenous heritage, culture and history. Presenters include ARL Commissioner Dr Chris Sarra, who heads Brisbane’s Stronger Smarter Institute, which is committed to ‘stronger smarter’ future for Indigenous students across Australia. The Leadership Group, pioneered by former NRL star and All Stars founder Preston Campbell with the support of the NRL Welfare and Education Department, includes Campbell, Thurston, Inglis, Merritt, Bowen and Thaiday. “This camp will provide the opportunity for players to gain the skills and knowledge to help them in their football careers and club environments as well as help them to develop the tools to work with the next generation of players and their local community,” Widders said. “It will hopefully provide a forum for our Indigenous players to work through the challenges that they face within Rugby League as well as help identify ways they can contribute to building and strengthening existing NRL club culture and systems. “We have young players coming through the NRL System and it is vital to ensure that they not only have a strong connection with their culture and heritage, but that we work together as a group to provide guidance and education as they make their way through their careers.” Thurston said: “Connecting with my culture and heritage has had a big impact on my life on and off the field, so I am really excited to see this camp get off the ground. “I know it will make a difference to the players who attend when they return to their clubs, community and family and to the young Indigenous players coming through our ranks who look up to us as role models.” Inglis told Glenn Jackson from the Sydney Morning Herald: ''We've never really had a strong voice up until now. “But indigenous players within rugby league have a unique opportunity to showcase not only their ability on the field, but their ability off the field. “The thing that we're trying to achieve is to make this a first stepping stone to bigger and better things. “Next year, we might want to go to Darwin, or the back of Bourke, or the Blue Mountains. “It's about showcasing the ability of our culture, where we come from. “This is what we do; music, laughter, family. “This is what we're all about.”

Three rule changes will be tested:

1) Ruck infringements which do not result in the breakdown of play (dropped ball, foul play) will result in a tap rather than a kick for touch;
2) Quick taps (similar to the 20-metre restart) can be taken from the point of the offence; and
3) For any attacking team that kicks the ball from the outside the opponents 30-metre line (30 metres from try line) and the ball goes dead in-goal, the opponent will receive the ball via a handover (tap restart) from the point where the kick originated.