More than 60 players have been invited to be part of a train-on squad which features a number of Port Macquarie Sharks, Port City Breakers and Wauchope Blues players.

NSWRL East Coast region league and club support officer Daniel Tempest said the squad would be reduced to the final 25 just before Christmas.

"A lot of players will pick themselves or delist themselves with the workload that's required of them and they might not be ready because there's a fair bit of travel for the North Coast," he said.

"We're training at Wauchope so there's a lot of things that come into account."

The Laurie Daley Cup head coach is Matt Freebairn and he will be assisted by Port Macquarie's Ben Stewart while Taree City Bulls coach Peter Wood will be coach of the Andrew Johns Cup team with David Morgan to be his assistant.

"We're trying to keep it as a good split because if we ever have to travel or have separate sessions during the season on a Monday, players will go to a northern venue and a southern venue, so the boys will have coaches at each from each age group.

"Both sessions are the injury checks and availability for the weekend because they have to name the squads by Tuesday."

What else is happening in news, sport?

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: