Results haven’t quite gone St Peter’s way in recent years but new Director of Rugby Russell Todd is confident that is about to change.

By simplifying his side’s approach, Todd is confident a young St Peter’s team will more than hold their own this season.

Overview with Russell Todd:

“I’m new to the role this year. I’ve just relocated from Cairns where I worked with QLD Rugby as a development officer for three or four years. I was also involved at a local level but I was keen to come down to Brisbane to try to progress my coaching,” Todd told Rugby News.

“I guess what excited me about the role is that the St Peter’s rugby program is that it is in a developmental stage, where the school is very driven to improve consistency across the board after having varying levels of success in recent years. I want to work to improve the entire program and my role covers all teams from grade 5 to seniors, although this year, I’ll be focussing on the senior squad.

“There’s a lot of talent at the school but I think there’s probably a lack of belief because a lot of the boys haven’t won consistently before. As a coach, coming in and seeing that early on allowed us to set two key outcomes for this season.

“We want to develop decision makers on the field because I think some of the boys have probably been coached with a bit too much structure in the past.

“Secondly, we want to improve the program culturally. To me, that’s improving the boy’s expectations, the standards that they are maintaining and their behaviours and approach to training and games.

“The attitudes of the boys so far has been fantastic. They’re very keen to learn and to push each other so it’s been a really positive start.”

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

“We’ve got a pretty electric backline, so our aim is to get the ball in their hands as much as possible.

“Our forward pack won’t be as physically big as some of the other sides so we’ll look to play quite freely and to utilise some of our more mobile forwards.

“I see a lot of running rugby coming from us this season.”

2021 Squad:

“We’ve got quite a young squad this year. We’ve got four or five grade 12 players that will start the season, then the rest are year 11 boys.

“That was part of a change that needed to happen. We needed to move away from the grade 12 players feeling like they are entitled to a spot in the first XV in their final year. We need to pick the best players in each position and we’ve done that this season.

“Everyone started with a clean slate and excitingly a lot of the year 11 players have really stood up.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“We’ve got a lad named Kadin Pritchard. He’ll play in the centres for us and is in year 11 but he’ll be captain this year. He’s a triple threat. He can ball play, he’s allusive in attack and he’s got a great kicking game on him as well.

“His off field approach is fantastic. He’s really self driven, which is pretty rare at that age, but he’s just so dedicated to improving personally and helping his teammates improve around him.”

Bold prediction for the season ahead: 

“This is going to sound like a complete cop out of an answer but we really don’t have any expectations for this season.

“We’re so focussed on getting what we’re doing right, that we haven’t sat down and said we’re aiming for the top.

“We know that realistically we’ve got a group of boys who aren’t used to winning a lot and we need to change the habits associated with that.

“We’re looking to win at least half our games though, that’s our aim.

“As for the other teams, it’s all new for me so it’s going to be exciting to watch it all play out.”