After a thumping by the Blues, followed by a less-than-convincing defeat of a weak Samoa, Jones - who has been doing most of the talking himself - will be relieved to be able to field his Wallaby stars against the Highlanders.

Former national coach Jones has been involved in a public spat with his successor John 'Knuckles' Connolly concerning the Wallabies who have been placed on 'Restricted Training Activity' status, and have therefore been ineligible for action until now.

The rivalry between the two blew up after star Wallaby No.15 Chris Latham - a so-called 'RTA' player - was seriously injured in a pre-season contact session in which he allegedly should not have been involved.

Controversies aside, the Reds mentor maintains that his team is on track for Super 14 resurgency, and has included returning Wallabies forwards Rodney Blake, Greg Holmes, Hugh McMeniman, James Horwill and Mitchell Chapman in a squad of 24 - a strong outfit which Jones is hoping will generate some pre-season confidence for the Brisbane franchise.

Winger Caleb Brown has also been named in the squad after pulling out of the Samoa game with a sore hamstring, but both he and 1999 World Cup winger (and winner) Ben Tune will remain in doubt until the pre-match warm-up. The perennially-injured Tune cut short Wednesday night's Ballymore training session because of a groin twinge.

Jones will wait until tomorrow (Friday) night before naming his starting line-up.

The Queensland Reds squad: Ole Avei, Berrick Barnes, Nic Berry, Rodney Blake, Andrew Brown, Caleb Brown, Mitchell Chapman, Quade Cooper, Ben Coutts, David Croft, Will Genia, AJ Gilbert, Sean Hardman, Greg Holmes, James Horwill, Herman Hunt, Peter Hynes, Lloyd Johansson, Hugh McMeniman, Ed O'Donoghue, John Roe, Clinton, Schifcofske, Ben Tune, Henari Veratau.