After winning nine straight matches, Southern Districts were the form side of the competition at the back end of last season but came undone in the opening week of the playoffs, losing to Norths 47-18.

Manly’s loss to Eastwood a day earlier meant that Souths’ season was over, despite finishing second, and the Rebels had let another premiership opportunity slip through their fingers.

The majority of Matt Barr’s squad have returned in 2018 and a few key recruits could help the Rebels find what they’ve been looking for over a number of years.

Overview with Matt Barr:

“We’ve had a good preseason. Our attention has been strong, which I think is a good sign for our culture and our program. We’ve picked up a few new recruits and added some new faces from our colts program as well and that’s created a lot of competition for spots,” Matt Barr told Rugby News.

“To end last year as we did, it was extremely disappointing. To win nine games straight heading into the playoffs and to be playing with so much confidence and then go out the way we did, it was extremely disappointing for everyone involved but that’s footy. We were beaten by a better side on the day and we need to learn from that and make improvements in 2018.

“I don’t think things go wrong for us at the back end of the year, we’ve won a lot of big games to get into grand finals and to get into grand final qualifiers. It’s just very difficult to win the Shute Shield. You’ve got to win three straight games in you don’t finish minor premiers and you need a lot of things to go your way.

“This playing group has been together for a long time, we’ve got a lot of experience and we know that window to win a premiership with this group is getting smaller, we’re very mindful of that. In saying that, with some of the new faces we’ve added and a few younger guys that have come up from colts, we’re confident that we have a squad good enough to win it this year.

“Carl McDonald was our strength and conditioning coach for a long time and he did a great job. He moved on at the end of last year and we’ve picked up Clint Hoare. He’s had some new ideas about how we train and he’s been very involved in our preseason and I think we’re already seeing the benefits of that.

“Apo Latunipulu will miss the first month of the season, he’s getting married. Rohan Saifoloi picked up a knee injury last weekend and he’ll also miss the first part of the season and Luke Smart won’t be back until round two.

“Our forwards will be close to full strength but there will be some new faces in the backs at the start of the year. Bayley Kuenzle is a young flyhalf who has trialled very well. He’s very good with ball in hand, he’s got a good running game. He looks like he’ll get an opportunity early in the year.

“I think it’ll be good to expose a few new guys to first grade early in the year because you need plenty of depth throughout the season.”

2017 result: Semi finalists

Ins: Christian Kagiassis (Sydney Uni), Shambeckler Vui (Western Force), Ben Grant (Western Force), Will Latu (Western Force), Andrew Selwood (Orange Emus)

Outs: Brandon Paenga-Amosa (QLD Reds), Alex Gibbon (Brothers), Vuni Fifita (Brisbane)

Key areas of improvement:

“We certainly started the season very slowly last year. At the halfway point, we’d had four wins and five losses so we need to ensure we have a better start to our season. We need to be more consistent week in week out,” Barr said.

“Our defence also needs to improve. We ranked first in attack last year but our defence wasn’t on par. We need to be more physical. Our structures are there, we’re more trying to change how we tackle so that we are more dominant.”

Player(s) to watch:

“Matt Gibbon missed most of 2017 with a shoulder injury but he is amazingly strong and a powerful runner and scrummager. I’m expecting him to have a big season and be knocking on the door of Super Rugby fairly soon.

“We relied very heavily on Brandon Paenga-Amosa for our go forward last year so we’d like to see Matt fill that role.”

Hopes and expectations for the season:

“We’ve always set high expectations at Souths and we’ve finished the regular season in second for the last two years. This year we want to improve and we want to finish minor premiers to put us in the best possible position come finals time.

“We need to start the season well unlike last year. We still put ourselves in a strong position after winning nine straight games but I think that put a lot of pressure on us through that period and I think that was one of a number of factors that cost us against Norths in the semi final.”

Who will Souths play in the grand final?

“I think Warringah will be very strong again. When you look at their squad, they’ve retained most of last year’s team and recruited very well.

“Norths will also be hard to beat. They’ve got a lot of Waratahs players that will most likely return for the backend of the year.

“I also think West Harbour will build on a really strong finish to last season and be a threat this year.

“It’s hard to pick one but I think it’s going to be another tight competition and another great year for club rugby.​”