The two Ararat footballers are part of a 48-man list that was chosen from more than 150 hopefuls from across the Ballarat, Wimmera, South West, Warrnambool and Hampden talent regions, who were invited to take part in the selection process.

The players worked extremely hard up to three nights per week to improve their skills and fitness levels under the watchful eye of the Rebels' head coach, David Loader and his experienced coaching and development staff.

This is the second year Taurau will take part in the TAC Cup competition after playing 13 of a possible 19 games for North Ballarat in 2014.

Loader said he is hoping the Ararat Eagles' talent can have an even bigger impact this season.

"He is certainly a better looking unit than at this time last year and we'd expect that from him after going through a season of TAC Cup footy," he said.

"He looks bigger, stronger, I think he has also improved his speed and endurance.

"Last year it was his attack on the ball that really stood out, he is like a bull when he gets going. Certainly his ability to put pressure on the opposition around stoppages is really positive."

Like any one of the 48 players that make up the Rebels' 2015 squad, Loader said Taurau has the makings of an AFL recruit, but must continue to develop his game to reach the ultimate goal.

"He's got genuine speed for a well-built kid and he is a nice kick of the footy too, so he has a fair bit of upside," he said.

"Every kid has potential to end up on an AFL list. We don't take too many that wouldn't have that potential, so I would have to say yes but that is a long, long way off."

For 16-year-old Williamson, who is the equal youngest player on this year's list, it was a blistering start to the pre-season training that made the North Ballarat coaches sit up and take notice.

Loader said Williamson was leading from the front in all the pre-Christmas running before a knee injury derailed his campaign.

"There is always going to be a few people that say he has had an indifferent pre-season and he was lucky to get on the list, but really up until halfway through our schedule he was knocking them dead," he said.

"Tom sort of got injured basically at the halfway mark of pre-season. Up until that point he was nearly leading our group with training, particularly the long distance running.

"He was probably ranked number one in endurance until he got hurt, so he certainly had some runs on the board, it is not like he has been injured all pre-season and we have taken him on a whim and a prayer. He was well in front of a large part of our group."

Loader said Williamson will resume full scale training this week and is about three weeks to a month away from playing.

"He is going to be a very high level runner, he has grown a bit and from what we saw with his involvement in the under-16 squad last year he can really play," he said.

Williamson made his senior debut for the Ararat Rats in 2014, playing six games.

The North Ballarat Rebels first TAC Cup match is on Saturday, March 28 at Simonds Stadium against the Geelong Falcons.