Attacking, running rugby and a ‘No Dickheads' recruiting policy will be two key features of Australia's newest Super 15 club, the Melbourne Rebels.

The Rebels will unveil their team logo and jumper - and club culture - at a Weary Dunlop Club lunch for 1350 devotees on Thursday. And, amid the good cheer and bonhomie, the bitter disappointment felt by Victoria's diehard rugger community six years ago - when they lost out to the West Australian bid for the competition's 14th license - will be largely forgotten.

The Rebels' emphasis on a solid culture is such that every item of merchandise sold will have a card attached spelling out the club's five-point ‘ethos'.

In an interview with Back Page Lead last week, Macqueen said he would insist that team unity and team harmony is everything. That meant individuals who put their own interests ahead of the team's would be give short shrift. In other words, a No Dickheads policy.

Macqueen was careful not to mention Jason Akermanis by name, but referred to the decision by the AFL's Western Bulldogs to sack him last week for being a loose cannon. ‘'What I think the club was espousing is that no one individual is bigger than the team. Now I don't know all the circumstances surrounding (Akermanis' sacking) but that's a good example: the team's always got to come first,'' he said.

The Sydneysider also said he wanted to bring the flair back to rugby, and that meant recruiting players who were comfortable carrying and running the ball. The recent tests between South Africa and New Zealand were an example of how he thought the game should be played.

‘'We want to play the game of rugby a little bit differently to how it's played at the moment, and have our own brand of rugby. We want to have ‘thinking' players. And we want to question the status quo,'' he said.

‘'Sport is interesting like that - sometimes people tend to think there's only way of doing things.

‘'There'll be more combined skill within the team organization that has the confidence to keep the ball in hand. If you look at the most recent All Black games against South Africa they've been very entertaining games. Those last couple of games are how we'd like to see rugby played in the future.

‘'It's important to be brutally honest, too, because the game hasn't looked good for the last couple of years so we need to work on that. One of the reasons for that is a lot of coaches need to win to retain their jobs, so you hear a lot about ‘winning ugly' and things like that. The lawmakers have got to encourage a skilful game - and I think that's what's happened in recent times.''

Now that it has a toehold in Victoria, the sport can now said to be truly national (with apologies to Adelaide). But the club's foray into Melbourne is also a double-edged sword because of the enormous competition it faces for membership and corporate backing.

They will have the hardy perennials over summer to deal with - cricket, horse racing, soccer, tennis, golf and AFL (which never goes away) - as well as new players on the scene such as the Melbourne's national baseball team (the Aces), the city's second A-League soccer team (the Heart), and the reborn NBL basketball competition.

All in all, the club could not have chosen a tougher time in Melbourne to be making their debut. Macqueen, though, is relishing the challenge - and the opportunity to start a new club from the ground up.

"There's no doubt that Melbourne is essential for Australian rugby,'' Macqueen said. ''Of have all the top nations, we're the one with the least depth. So this will certainly help with that. Already, Melbourne looks like it's going to embrace the side, which is important.''

Without spoiling the Rebels' coming-out parade too much, we can say the five-point club culture happens to coincide with the first letters of the team name: Respect, Excellence, Balance, Ethos and Leadership. And the logo is five navy blue horizontal stripes - each with a star in the middle - contained within a V which, of course, symbolizes Victoria.