Josh Valentine's hopes of retaining his Waratahs starting spot have slumped, with the Wallabies halfback instead expected to appear in the curtain-raiser at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night.

Brett Sheehan is scheduled to this afternoon be named as the Waratahs' No.9 for the opening Super 14 round against the Hurricanes, while Valentine is in line to be the halfback for the Junior Waratahs against the Queensland Academy in the early match. This will be a major blow for Valentine, especially as he finished last season as the No.1 NSW halfback, but like several other members of the Waratahs back line who appeared in the final round last season, he will be a spectator for the main event.

The hint was clear that Valentine had been overtaken by Sheehan during last Thursday night's trial match against the Crusaders in Sydney when he was replaced after just 28 minutes. Sheehan then went on to be named man of the match.

Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie said last night it was impossible to overlook those who had excelled during the recent trial matches. "Brett has played 2½ of the three trial games, and gone pretty well. You can't ignore that," McKenzie said.

While Tom Carter and Ben Jacobs are expected to be the centres combination, Timana Tahu is set to make his Super 14 debut on the wing, rather than his prime position - outside-centre.

McKenzie said it was important the Waratahs did not push Tahu too quickly. "We are still educating him," the coach said. "The wing gives him the chance to play on one side of the field, which he is obviously used to. He's only had a game and a half of rugby so we want to get him right. We'll move him around."

And Sam Harris has suddenly become one of the Waratahs' most important bench players, covering the centres and five-eighth. "He has actually done a good job in changing the game when playing at No.10 during the trials," McKenzie said. "He has some of the Lloyd Walker attributes about him, and that's not a bad thing."