Petaia returns for Reds-Rebels

Reds coach Les Kiss has retained Isaac Henry at inside centre and handed young gun Harry McLaughlin-Phillips the keys to Queensland's backline in their All-Australian derby against Melbourne Rebels.

Henry was one of his side's best against the Chiefs last week in place of injured Wallaby Hunter Paisami and keeps his starting berth for Friday night's Super Rugby Pacific clash at AAMI Park.

Ahead of Wednesday's team announcement, Kiss lauded Henry's Round 3 performance as "terrific".

"I’m not surprised by Isaac, I think I’ve said this before in the trials when he came on for hunter, he went really well (and) was seamless," Kiss said.

"I’m really happy with him because he was really confident. He remembered the last time he played the Chiefs and scored a couple of tries or something so he felt really confident going into that game and he played that way."

Henry told media last week's 25-19 win was a "confidence builder".

"The boys worked extremely hard last week to prepare for what was a quality chiefs side and I think those last couple of minutes were pretty crucial to getting the job done. It’s a massive confidence builder for us going forward," Henry said.

"Friday night is crucial. All our attention and focus is on this game. It's a new week."

McLaughlin-Phillips' elevation follows a strong second-half showing against the Chiefs, including a try assist, five points from the tee and a match-sealing turnover after the siren.

Peni Ravai will join him in the starting side following Sef Fa'agase's four-week suspension while Jordan Petaia also returns to the matchday 23 following an injury lay-off.

He'll cover the backline alongside Kalani Thomas and Tom Lynagh on the pine.

Kiss told media he was not yet "wedded on a team" and wanted to ensure player workloads were properly managed, including players like James O'Connor yet to feature in 2024.

"I want to make sure to keep the right combinations going and form is important at the right time. In this day and age we do all our data and loading data and trying to manage that is important," Kiss said.

"You can’t ask players to play every minute of every game and every minute of every training session. It’s also me getting to know the players and what their thresholds are.

"He (James) doing everything he can to be physically right. He’s getting more and more touches in key component of our drills. He’s still building the capacity of his legs and his aerobic capacity but he’s getting closer."