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Randwick almost caused the upset of the season in week one of the finals and gave eventual premiers Gordon a serious scare at Rat Park.

While the Galloping Greens fell just short that day, that performance and a number of others throughout 2020 proved the young group at Coogee have bucketloads of potential.

Overview with Ben McCormack:

“There were certainly some ups and downs for us this season,” McCormack told Rugby News.

“Our discipline was something that let us down in some of those crucial matches and at key times of the season, none more evident than in the semi final against Gordon. 

“We gave away a couple of yellow cards and a red card, then a penalty which they kicked to win the game and that was really disappointing. 

“There were also a lot of highs though. We were really happy with a few of our performances and in the progression of the group and the players throughout the year. That doesn’t mean much when you finish the way that we did, but we’ll take the positives and move forward. 

“I thought we came together as group really well during that COVID period. We had a good block of training pre COVID and then I think we managed COVID as a club quite well. We didn’t over do it with the boys and had a bit of a common sense approach. Then as the situation became clearer, we started to drop some footy back in to the program. 

“When we could, we got the group together fairly quickly and I think that helped us through the first half of the season. 

“The loss against Easts (81-24) was really disappointing. You’ve got to look closely at losses like that, regardless of the outcome, because we’re a young group and we need to learn from it. 

“It was a horrible result and there were a few things in the lead up to the game that we would have changed. Our mindset on the day was off as well, we never tried to stop the bleeding, we were frantic in trying to get the ball and score tries and that was the wrong way to go about it. We learnt a lot that day. 

“The semi final against Gordon probably just showed everyone else what we knew all along as a group. We hadn’t played well against the top teams throughout the season but that game against Gordon was the first time we got to play one of those sides again for a second time. 

“We learnt from our earlier loss against them and we went into the semi with a really good game plan and the boys executed that to a large extent. Our discipline let us down in the end and that was disappointing because we were certainly in a position to win that game.”

What needs to happen between now and round one next year? 

“I think it’s pretty important that the boys get a good break. They’ve had time off since we dropped out back in October. 

“I think we need to let them physically and mentally freshen up because it’s been a really long year. Away from footy, like most of society, a lot of the boys have had a stressful year in terms of job security and family members getting sick. All that weighed on some of our guys a bit so we really want to freshen them up. 

“Then when we do get back into it, we need to work hard physically to be ready for next season. We want to be in the best possible physical shape so that we can endure a full season in 2021. 

“We’ve also identified a few areas in our game that we think we can get some good gains out of. The coaches are working on that over the next month so that we’re ready to go when preseason starts.”

Which player(s) do you expect to go on to bigger and better things from next year? 

“A few of the boys who played their first year of grade this year have a lot of potential. We had a really good crop of colts come into grade this year and some of them played first grade but mostly in seconds. 

“Our second grade side had a reasonably successful year, losing in the second week of the finals, so I think a lot of those guys are in for a big year in 2021. 

“Guys like Liam Cornish, Dec Leaney, Ben Houston. They’re all really talented and I expect them to thrive in their second year of grade. 

“There were a few other boys who struggled with injuries. Jackson Mohi and Oli Barden, they struggled to stay on the park this year but they both have plenty of talent and I expect plenty out of them next year.”

Bold prediction for 2021: 

“We still haven’t got a draw yet, so it’s hard to say. I do think it’ll be tighter again though. If you look at this year, there were a lot of tight results not just within the top six but right across the competition. 

“The comp ran fairly deep and it’ll be deeper again next year with teams that weren’t in the six  like Souths, Manly and especially Warringah improving. 

“Even West Harbour, they’ve spent quite a bit on their program and players over the last few years and they aren’t going to stop until they get some success, so I think it’s only getting tighter next season.”

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