Kolbe Poole, Nick Young, Jamie Stephens, Jake McCarthy and ladies debutant Jordyn Peart underlining Ballarat’s extremely strong hand in the game.

Poole is Ballarat’s most experienced campaigner and she is gearing up for another strong performance, although her preparation has been hindered by a shoulder injury.

Poole admits she has been unable to train as much as she would have liked leading up to a tournament like this, but she is hoping a jam-packed schedule will quickly get her eye in.

A pre-national round robin will be beneficial while there is also a five-woman English team coming over to take on Australia, of which Poole is the number one seed, in a five test international series.

There will be an international singles tournament for the 10 players of the test match, Poole drawing current world champion Barbara Taylor.

With the tournament stretching over a week, Poole is looking forward to finding her best form.

“Sadly this year I haven’t been able to put in as much as I normally would,” Poole said.

“I’ve raced to the finish line to try and cram it all in.

“At the end of the day, the shots are all there, the experience is all there, it’s just a matter of reminding myself of that and believing that and the consistency will come the longer I’m on the table.”

Meanwhile, talented father-son duo Mark and Matthew Curwood will not attend the nationals.

The pair have placed their focuses elsewhere.

Matthew has been working towards establishing himself in the snooker industry after having an enormous amount of success through the junior eight-ball scene.

While Mark has his sights set on the Australian Blackball titles in February.

He and fellow Ballarat gun Paul Clack will attend the event.

Blackball is played on the same table, with the same balls as eight-ball but with a few variations to the rules to produce a more open and attacking brand of pool.