After falling short in the playoffs two years in a row, former Wallaby Owen Finegan has taken the reigns at Randwick in 2018, after assisting Shannon Fraser last season.

The abrasive backrower will be without some big names in 2018, but he seems confident his maturing squad are ready to take the next step on the back of a restructured and constructive preseason.

Overview with Owen Finegan:

“The last few months have been really enjoyable. We’ve been working hard for five months now as a group so it’s exciting to get to the start of the season and play for competition points,” Finegan told Rugby News.

“We’ve played the Brumby Runners, West Harbour, Norths and Manly in trials. It was good to face some teams that we’ve previously struggled with and I think the boys have shown some really good signs.

“For the last two seasons, Randwick have been really competitive during the round games but have faded away at the back end of the season. Two years in a row we’ve been either first or second then lost the final two games heading into the finals and bowed out so we’ve changed things a bit this year.

“We’ve had a bit of a gentler introduction to preseason and we’re looking to continually improve throughout the year so that we’re hitting our straps at the right end of the season.

“When it comes to finals time, you need to have your best players fit and on the park. We had probably five or six key injuries towards the back end of the year and that hurt us. Manly had similar issues and were competitive all year until injuries hit. That dominance that you might have can disappear pretty quickly, particularly when other sides are getting players back from Super Rugby at the same time.

“Last year we were training four times a week during preseason, this year we’ve knocked it back to two sessions a week with an occasional Saturday session. Hopefully that will freshen guys up for the season. We’ve also changed our rugby content slightly and I think the guys are really enjoying the way that we’re playing at the moment and hopefully that continues.

“We’ve got almost 20 colts coming up into our grade program, then we’ve had 47 blokes play first grade at some stage during the preseason so we’ve had a good chance to have a look at everyone. Randwick has been touted as a young team for the last few years but a lot of our guys have now played three or four years of first grade so I think it’s time we shed that tag and start to get results.

“We were in the hunt for the club championship up until the last couple of rounds and then fell away. So this year we want to win the club championship and get seven teams into the finals.

“The last first grade premiership we won at the club was in 2004 and the last club championship we won was in 2003 so we’ve haven’t won in quite a while and that’s something we need to change. If we keep doing the same thing, we’re not going to get results so we’ve changed things this preseason and I’m really happy with where we are at.”

2017 result: Semi finalists

Ins: Kiernan Rabie (South Africa), Lachlan Miller (Coffs Harbour), Ben Hunt (Gold Coast), Ikapote Tupai (Melbourne Rebels), Christian Yasminn (Sydney Uni), David Purchett (Northern Suburbs), Ryan Block (Northern Suburbs).

Outs: Andrew Deegan (Western Force), Dave Horwitz (Connacht), Sam Croke (Aussie 7s), Mark Baldwin (Dubbo).

Key areas of improvement: 

“I think for us, we want to get back to playing a traditional Randwick style of rugby but to be able to do that, you’ve got to get your set piece right. We had a look back at the stats from last year and we had a fairly strong lineout but then we had a few injuries and things went downhill,” the former Wallaby said.

“We played Warringah in that opening semi final and they dismantled our scrum. We’ve had Matt Bowman, who played in the last Randwick premiership side in 2004, he’s been working with our forwards.

“When your scrum goes, you tend to get outmuscled in other areas of the game as well and I think that’s what happened against Warringah in the finals.

“If we get that right, then we’ll be able to bring back the old Randwick running rugby, and we’ve been working hard on that.”

Player(s) to watch:

“Lachlan Miller has come down from Coffs Harbour and he’s playing in the Australian Sevens development side in Hong Kong this week.

“Geoff Mould who used to coach Randwick and coached me in the Australian U20s said he’s the best player he’s seen since Russell Fairfax, so that’s quite a wrap. He only played a handful of games and the Sevens guys picked him up, so it’ll be exciting to watch him.

“Christian Yasmin has also added a lot of spark already this year, he’s got some real speed and plenty of ability.

“In the forwards, Jack Hayson and Jack Johnson are two good No.7s. When you look at how well a bloke like Will Miller is doing, I don’t think those two are too far off him, they’re just as good. I think they can both move on to the next level and that’s what you want to see.”

Hopes and expectations for the season: 

“We hope that we’re playing in the grand final in September. Obviously the club championship is also important for the club as well but in first grade we want to give ourselves an opportunity to take the next step and really compete in the finals,” Finegan said.

“The majority of the side has been around playing first grade for a few years now and the club is used to success, so we all want to get back to it.”

Who will Randwick play in the grand final?

“Probably Warringah, they’re the defending premiers and the Australian Club Champions as well and they’ve got so much talent but one thing I do really like about the Shute Shield is that most clubs look like they’ve improved again heading into this season.

“Most sides will be there or thereabouts, sides like Manly, Southern Districts, Eastwood, Sydney Uni, the usual players will be there but I think a few sides on the edge of the top six will improve a lot as well.

“When you go through the draw, there aren’t many easy games so it’s hard to know who will be there at the end.”