Marist College Ashgrove will field as many as 10 returning players this weekend in the opening round of the 2021 AIC season.

The perennial champions will start the 2021 season as premiership favourites but coach Brendan Kiernan knows his side won’t have it all their own way in what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive competitions in recent memory.

Overview with Brendan Kiernan:

“Like most teams, everyone is in pretty good shape at this stage of the year but I think we’re all really just looking forward to playing a full season,” Kiernan told Rugby News.

“Other than the fact that we missed the opportunity to tour again, it’s been a great preseason. Physically, the boys are in really good shape and we’ve played enough trials to get that much needed match practice during preseason. It’s all looking good for round one.

“Last year was certainly a unique season. For us at Ashgrove, we probably felt like we had some unfinished business after missing out on playing the grand final due to Covid.

“However we went in to last year thinking that every single game we played was a game that we potentially didn’t think we would get, so there were still plenty of positives to take out of the season.

“Things seemed to come together pretty well for us in those few games we did play. We had a pretty balanced side right across the park and the boys seemed to compliment each other with the style of footy we played.

“First and foremost, we’ve focused on the preparation of our own side and getting our own structures in place.

“It’s certainly encouraging to see the other colleges preparing really well though and putting quality teams on the field week in week out.

“It’ll make for an interesting and competitive season.

“As we’re aware, as premiers in recent years, you’ll always come up against sides that will lift to play you, so we have to make sure that we match our oppositions intent in each and every match.”

What style of rugby can we expect to see this season? 

“Without giving too much away, I think generally speaking an Ashgrove side will look to play positive rugby and to use the football when we’re in possession of it,” the coach said.

“Then obviously in defence, we’ll look to be tough when it is needed.”

2021 Squad: 

“We’ve got a good blend again of year 11 and year 12s and we’ve got one year 10 boy in the squad.

“We’ve got 10 guys returning from last year who played either in the starting side or off the bench.

“There’s a good core of players who have experience playing first XV rugby, then the new boys coming in are a blend of year 12 and year 11s.

Player(s) to watch: 

“We’ve got a couple of returning first XV players who have plenty of talent.

“Our captain Jack Condon, playing open side flanker, he’s a high class footballer.

“Dwayne Ludwick will potentially play fullback this year but can cover a number of positions in the backline. He’s a third year first XV player and is quite electric with the ball in hand and played a bit of QLD 7s earlier this year.

“We’ve also got a few boys who have more of a rugby league pedigree and they are all adjusting  quite well to rugby. They’ll have an impact this season.”

“We probably think our strength lies more in our units than in individuals. We’ll have a good front row and we’ll have other combinations across the park that will compliment one another.”

Bold prediction for the season ahead: 

“Week in, week out there are going to be plenty of close results and I think we’ll see a few surprises throughout the year as the season progresses.

“Certain colleges tend to have years where they feel that they have a stronger age group, but open football tends to level that out a little bit for some reason, particularly when you start to combine year 11 and year 12 boys.

“From our point of view, we’ll respect every opposition that we come up against this year and we won’t be looking at any game as an easy one.

“The other colleges are going to be well prepared and have talented first XV sides who will ready to take it to us each round.”