Illawarra secured a three-peat of titles with an emphatic 42-12 win over Canberra in last year’s final and are keen to extend their run of dominance for another year.

Coach Wade Forrester, who took the reins from two-time winning coach Gavin Clinch last year, named a 19-man squad for the campaign on Wednesday, including star Collies back-rower Phillips.

Phillips missed last year’s run due to International commitments with Malta but will return this season hunting another country crown.

“Every year the players you put in the rep team comes from a large pool of really good players,” Phillips said.

“It’s such a strong competition we have down here and there’s plenty of players who didn’t make it but could’ve. I think that shows why we’ve won it the last three years in a row because there’s such good depth down here.”