After a disappointing season in 2020, Eddies first XV coach Andrew Kirk will oversee a far better prepared St Edmund’s outfit when round one of the AIC competition behind on Saturday.

Kirk has tinkered his side’s game plan to suit his playing group and seems confident his boys can be the big improvers this season.

Overview with Andrew Kirk:

“It’s been a really solid preseason, particularly compared to preseasons we’ve had in the past and we’ve got a great crop of kids coming through this year and for the next couple of years, which is exciting to see,” Kirk told Rugby News.

“We’ve focused on instilling values on the group this year and increasing the rugby literacy of the kids who come from a non traditional rugby background.

“Most of the boys are ‘leaguies’ and there are a lot of split second skills that are fairly unique in rugby that they need to learn.

“They are footballers with a lot of skill and now we’re trying to add some of the nuances of rugby to their games.

“We’ve been training since term four last year. That included a gym program and two field sessions each week and that continued into term one this year.

“We’ve played, including the Ballymore Cup, nine trial games already this year and that’s in comparison to previous seasons when we’ve only played one trial before round one.

“We’ve essentially had a season before the season to build that continuity and rugby knowledge within the group.”

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

“We’ve tried to create a bit of a hybrid style where we use some of the shapes and structures that the boys are used to in rugby league by adding some of those into our game.

“That’s what they are used to and that’s what they know.

“We don’t want to play a forward dominant game, we’d rather play in those wider channels and then play fast, up tempo rugby.

“In the past, we’ve probably let teams dictate how we play the game, but this year we’re really focused on sticking to our style of rugby and dictating terms as much as possible.”

2021 Squad: 

“Last year we only played four grade 12 players because we wanted to expose those younger guys in that shorter season.

“The results obviously didn’t go our way last year but I think it was a really good learning curve for a lot of those guys.

“Our squad is probably a 50/50 split between year 11 and year 12 boys, then we’ve got a few year 10 boys who may play off the bench.

“We really want to build a strong foundation for this year and the years to come.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“Jed Lacey is playing his second year of first XV. He’s an inside centre and recently played U18s QLD 7s.

“Larry Siala plays either No.8 or lock and he recently got picked in the team of the tournament at the Ballymore Cup.

“Then we’ve got our two Sam’s. Sam Bothwell and Sam Callaghan. They’ll be our captains this year and are really consistent players. They live and breath rugby and do all the fundamentals really well.”

Bold prediction for the season ahead: 

“I don’t think I want to be too bold because we’re not going to shy away from the results of the past few seasons,” the coach said.

“For us, it’s about being competitive and resilient in all of our games and not folding towards the end of matches.

“We want to put up a fight every time we play, be it for a win or to stay in the game for longer, we want to keep fighting and force teams to play well to beat us.”