Otago has announced a preliminary squad of 26 players for the Southern zone competition, which starts in August.
Just 10 players remain from last year's team, which finished third in the six-team competition.
Otago Whalers coach David Reedy said he had picked a team with combinations that had played together in the winter competition.
He was confident his team could perform well. Because Otago was physically smaller than some of the other teams, it would play a fast-paced style of league.
The Whalers team will again be co-captained by back-rower Manassah Kutia and prop Koben Katipa.
Reedy said both men added some stability to the team and would lead from the front.
Also in the team is last year's South Island representative, Jonnie Hughes.
Hughes was unable to play for the Whalers last year and Reedy was excited to have the promising centre in his squad.
The squad was picked from the three teams that competed in the Otago winter competition.
The champion South Pacific Raiders have 11 players in the squad, University has 10 and the Kia Toa Tigers have five.
Five more players may also be called into the squad before the competition starts.
"It's an exciting squad with a lot of potential and I can't wait to see what they will produce on the field," Reedy said.
For a second year, the Southland Rams, West Coast Chargers, Tasman Titans, Canterbury under-20 and defending champion Canterbury A will join Otago in the competition.
The Whalers start their campaign with away games against the Rams on August 25 and Canterbury A the following week before returning home for matches against the Chargers and Canterbury under-20 and then playing away to the Titans.
The final will be played on September 29 at a venue to be confirmed.
Reedy said he expected the two Canterbury teams to be the toughest, but he would not take any team lightly.
A nines competition being run by Otago Rugby League starts on Saturday.
ORL development officer Grant Milne said the competition would run until the end of July.
He said it would be run on a week-to-week basis, and games played would depend on how many teams entered by each week's cut-off on a Wednesday.
The logic behind the competition was to keep rugby league players interested in the sport and to give Whalers players some game time before the representative season started, Milne said.
He said if at least four teams were not available, then no games would be played that week.
So far, University, Kia Toa and South Pacific had entered teams, and Milne was confident a composite side will be organised by Saturday.
Games will be played with nine-minute halves, and teams will have four sets of tackles instead of the standard six.
Teams will play four games every Saturday and at the end of each round, a prize will be awarded to the winning team.
Otago Whalers
2012 squad
Manassah Kutia (Raiders), Koben Katipa, Gruelyn Taitua, Joel Taniora, Shane Unahi, Josh Kent (Tigers), Jonnie Hughes, Reece Vaitupu, Ben McKerchar, Konelio Feaunati, Logan MacGregor, Steven Booth, Travis Robertson, Simon Fuatavai (Raiders), Dexter Buchanan, Shawn Gielen-Ralph, Deacon Fisher, Ben Loughrey-Webb, Sam Davison, Tyler Schreurs, Arden Roberts, Matt McKenzie, Maharu Rudolph (University).
Training squad:Charles Walters (University), Alex Faulkner, Tane Tuhakaraina (Raiders).
