The usually unfashionable Highlanders have announced a Super Rugby squad stacked with star power and a new captain in All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore.

The most notable absentee from coach Jamie Joseph’s 31-man squad is All Blacks flanker Adam Thomson, who will almost certainly play overseas next year after not featuring in any of the five New Zealand squads announced on Wednesday.

“He will be a huge loss for us because he is a player who won games for us by himself last season through the strength of his individual performance,” Joseph said of Thomson.

“He was close to coming back until, I guess, he got an opportunity to go somewhere else.”

Otherwise Joseph has injected All Blacks quality into a team who challenged for a playoff berth for much of last season before trailing off in ninth place.

Prop Tony Woodcock and centre Ma’a Nonu have both left the Blues while evergreen lock Brad Thorn has been enticed back from Japan to Dunedin, where he grew up.

There are 11 past or present All Blacks at the franchise which has historically been one of New Zealand’s weakest.

Hore is handed the skipper duties with this year’s captain Jamie Mackintosh now not guaranteed starts at loosehead prop due to the arrival of Woodcock.

Backing up Hore at hooker are two newcomers in Otago’s Liam Coltman and Southland’s Brayden Mitchell, leaving no room for veteran rake Jason Rutledge.

Crusaders backup lock/loose forward Joe Wheeler is lured south, while former Crusaders No.8 Jake Paringatai returns home from Japan.

Other new faces in the backline are Japanese international halfback Fumiaki Tanaka, along with his Otago provincial teammates Hayden Parker at five-eighth and Buxton Popoali’i on the wing. There are also contracts for exciting Manawatu centre Jason Emery and Waikato winger Declan O’Donnell, a former sevens star.

There is one fewer player in the Highlanders squad than the 32 at the other New Zealand franchises for budgetary reasons.

Highlanders Squad:

Backs: Ben Smith, Hosea Gear, Buxton Popoali’i, Kade Poki, Declan O’Donnell, Jason Emery, Ma’a Nonu, Tamati Ellison, Shaun Treeby, Phil Burleigh, Colin Slade, Lima Sopoaga, Hayden Parker, Aaron Smith, Fumiaki Tanaka

Forwards: Nasi Manu, Jake Paringatai, Elliot Dixon, John Hardie, Tim Boys, Joe Wheeler, Jarrad Hoeata, Brad Thorn, Josh Bekhuis, Tony Woodcock, Jamie Mackintosh, Chris King, Ma’afu Fia, Andrew Hore, Liam Coltman, Brayden Mitchell.