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Attention all Victorians – tonight the Melbourne Rebels will make history, playing their first game of Super Rugby and they’re doing it on Victorian soil.  For you A Leaguers at the end of your season, the AFL fanatics excited about the impending start of your season, and the slightly disheartened NRL Supporters this is your chance to be a part of history. Here is a little bit of a cheat sheet on the Melbourne Rebels to get you through the game.

Tonight Stirling Mortlock will lead the Melbourne Rebels out onto the pitch for their first game of Super Rugby. With 117 Super Rugby caps, 80 test caps and 300 tries to his name there is no one better prepared to lead the Rebels as captain with his steadfast determination and vast experience of the game. With such experience, the age question just begs to be asked. At 33 years of age recruiting Mortlock could have been seen as a counterproductive move for a new club, but in the Rebels first season they need experience and leadership on the pitch and along with his incredible skills, that is what Mortlock brings.

Who are the Rebels to watch out for this season? Winning the bidding war, the Rebels took first blood against the Crusaders by signing forward Greg Somerville. Known as one of the world's best tighthead props the Rebels will be well served by Somerville and his ability to lead to the forward pack.  Consistency in the centre has a head start with Danny Cipriani and Lachlan Mitchell both being recruited from the London Wasps. Jarrod Saffy continues the trend for NRL players to switch codes and leaves the Dragons as a premiership player to return to the code where he first started and joining the Rebels. With an upbringing from the Australian Rugby 7s team is Adam Phipps and Richard Kingi. These are just some of the Rebels players that we can expect big things from but it would be remiss of me not to mention Adam Freier, Mark Gerrard, Julian Huxley, Rodney Blake (if you’re looking to impress your mates with your rugby cred, his nickname is “Rodzilla”), and Sam Cordingly – all established players within Super Rugby and the Wallabies.

Along with the introduction of a new team, excitement surrounds Rod Macqueen rejoining the rugby ranks as the Coach of the Rebels. Known for creating a culture that is innovative you can see why Macqueen is one of Australia's most successful coaches. It is not just the head coach but you look at the team Macqueen has recruited around him and it sounds more link an international coaching squad than the staff of the Melbourne Rebels. Macqueen's assistants are Damien Hill who has taken Sydney University to victory for the last 3 seasons and Mark Bakewell, wooed back to Australia after coaching stints in France and England. Two former Wallabies as the skills coach and the performance analyst in Nathan Gray and Ben Darwin, the Rebels won't be getting away with poor form in basic skills and sloppy play. Crossing the codes from NRL are Troy Thomson as the high performance manager and Mark Andrews taking up the role of strength and conditioning coach. To round up all these coaches and players Scott Harrison has been given the job as Team Manager and after stints with the Wallabies and the Waratahs these guys will be well managed.

So if you live in Melbourne, get your best navy blue shirt or jacket on and head down to AAMI Park and be a part of history. If you’re like me and can’t get to the game it’s on Fox Sports 2 at 7.30pm EST.