O'Brien's Wellington comeback official

Iain O'Brien's return to New Zealand has become official after he was handed a contract with Wellington for next summer. O'Brien, 35, was included on Wellington's first-round list of contracted players after he failed to qualify as a local player in England, where he had moved nearly two years ago to be with his British wife.

All six domestic sides have named their initial squads for the 2011-12 season, with teams confirming nine to 11 contracts in the first round, before making the numbers up to 12 by August 9. Among the notable omissions were Wellington's Neal Parlane and his brother Michael, who plays for Northern Districts.

Auckland Michael Bates, Andrew De Boorder, Colin De Grandhomme, Gareth Hopkins, Anaru Kitchen, Bruce Martin, Tim McIntosh, Colin Munro, Jeet Raval, Bhupinder Singh, Daryl Tuffey.

Central Districts Doug Bracewell, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Michael Mason, Adam Milne, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Tarun Nethula, Mathew Sinclair, Bevan Small, Kruger van Wyk, Ben Wheeler.

Canterbury Todd Astle, Dean Brownlie, Andrew Ellis, Peter Fulton, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Ryan McCone, Richard Sherlock, Shanan Stewart, George Worker.

Northern Districts Graeme Aldridge, Brent Arnel, James Baker, Anton Devcich, Brook Hatwell, James Marshall, Peter McGlashan, Daryl Mitchell, Anurag Verma, Brad Wilson, Joseph Yovich.

Otago Nick Beard, Michael Bracewell, Darren Broom, Ian Butler, Craig Cumming, Derek De Boorder, Warren McSkimming, Aaron Redmond, Bradley Scott, Neil Wagner, Sam Wells.

Wellington Joe Austin-Smellie, Harry Boam, Josh Brodie, Grant Elliott, James Franklin, Mark Gillespie, Stephen Murdoch, Iain O'Brien, Michael Papps, Jeetan Patel, Stewart Rhodes. undefined